Senators President Roy Mlakar "confidently declared"
last night the team will reach its goal of selling 1,500 new
season tickets, according to Allen Panzeri of the OTTAWA
CITIZEN. Corporate support is also up, as 154 of the team's
more than 300 corporate sponsors have agreed to a one-time,
10% increase in their contracts with the club. Should all
corporate sponsors renew, C$2.5M in additional revenue would
be generated (OTTAWA CITIZEN, 2/18). In Ottawa, Murray &
Casey write that the ticket drive reached 84.2% in renewals
and 1,476 in new sales yesterday (OTTAWA SUN, 2/18).
YASHIN UPDATE: In Ottawa, Ken Warren writes that the
NHLPA "is expected to defend" Senators holdout C Alexei
Yashin in the NHL's C$7M grievance for damages. But
Senators players and union members are "definitely not [all]
backing" Yashin. Senators C Joe Juneau: "If (Yashin) wins,
I don't think you can look at it as a plus for the players.
As a player, if I enter a contract, I will finish it."
Warren notes that although Senators players have "bit their
lip publicly" on the Yashin subject all season, Juneau's
comments "reflect the popular opinion" of players around the
league (OTTAWA CITIZEN, 2/18).
