Anselmi was brought on board to spearhead the RendezVous LeBreton bid to build a new rink downtownGETTY IMAGES
Senators GM Pierre Dorion has "signed a three-year contract extension" with the team, but President & CEO Tom Anselmi “will be vacating his role," according to Chris Stevenson of THE ATHLETIC.
Sources said that Anselmi left the club "at least a week ago." Stevenson noted Anselmi was "brought on board to spearhead the RendezVous LeBreton bid to build a new rink downtown." Perhaps, with a "big step toward securing the LeBreton project done, Anselmi has decided to move on to other challenges or perhaps to enjoy a well-earned retirement." Or maybe he "just had enough of working" for Senators Owner Eugene Melnyk, who has a "reputation for being a difficult boss." His departure "continues the churn in the Senators front office." Meanwhile, Dorion’s extension is a "vote of confidence and a leap of faith for a young general manager who has had a wildly divergent first two years on the job" (THEATHLETIC.com, 2/9). In Ottawa, Bruce Garrioch wrote Anselmi "may have resigned, but this was likely a mutual parting of the ways" (OTTAWA SUN, 2/11).
AWKWARD TIMING? In Ottawa, Ken Warren wrote of Anselmi's departure, "You’re embarking on re-development of LeBreton Flats, the most vital project in franchise history, and the person originally charged with spearheading the plan disappears from the organization in the quietest possible way." Warren: "Was Anselmi pushed or was he dumped?" Few of the problems that Melnyk "cited for firing" Leeder, including low ticket sales and a poor schedule, "were corrected under Anselmi." His legacy with the organization "will be about throwing tarps over 1,500 seats the club couldn’t sell on a nightly basis" (OTTAWA SUN, 2/11).
