Senators Owner Eugene Melnyk and GM Pierre Dorion on Wednesday held two more town hall talks with season-ticket holders, and the "most interesting topic was LeBreton Flats and the future for the new downtown arena because the Senators would like [to] have shovels in the ground" midway through '19, according to Bruce Garrioch of the OTTAWA SUN. The RendezVous LeBreton Group and National Capital Commission "reached an agreement in principle in January to finalize a deal to redevelop the land 10 minutes west of downtown, and the two sides are now working on finalizing that deal." But Melnyk indicated that the deal "isn’t close." Melnyk: "It’s a very difficult, much more than I thought, process. It’s not the NCC that’s holding it up. They’ve actually been very, very good throughout this whole process. The problems we’re finding there are much more complicated than I can describe to you." Melnyk said that he will "continue to try to get the LeBreton deal across the finish line." At the end of the town hall talks, Melnyk "indicated he’d like to do this two or three times a year to get the club’s message directly to the most important stakeholders in the team." The reviews on social media "are mixed." But Garrioch wrote, "You have to give the Senators credit for giving people access because that doesn’t happen in every NHL market" (OTTAWA SUN, 4/12). In Ottawa, Ken Warren wrote many season-ticket holders and Melnyk "don't see eye to eye on the state of the franchise." Meeting with the "most dedicated base of supporters and directly answering some of their issues surrounding the team and arena is a positive" (OTTAWA SUN, 4/12).
