Who might be the Senators' next owner? A look at the potential buyers.

You can’t tell the bidders without a program. 

Since the announcement last month that the Ottawa Senators were for sale – not to mention the jockeying prior to that – a slew of wealthy business people has been working the phones and pressing the flesh in the name of acquiring the NHL team and being part of a bright new future in LeBreton Flats. 

The suitors range from the celebrity pledge of actor Ryan Reynolds, declaring his interest to the world on late-night TV, to those who prefer to stay in the background and quietly position themselves to acquire some or all of the franchise. 

Anna and Olivia Melynk, who inherited the team from their father, the late Eugene Melnyk, are selling the Senators through the New York firm Galatioto Sports Partners (GSP) and have made it a condition of the sale that the club remain in Ottawa. 

Sportico.com, which broke the story of the Senators sale, has valued the team at $655 million US, although the actual sale price could be higher. Valuations on NHL franchises are rising, and the league's future looks bright.

A transaction of this magnitude could take months to complete, and while those details are ironed out the organization is continuing to work with the National Capital Commission on a lease agreement for a new arena on a parcel of land west of Parliament Hill. The deadline for that agreement is the fall of 2023. 

Just as interesting as the names involved are the potential alliances and partnerships that could form as this sale comes to fruition. Will a winning group include some local ownership and perhaps a liaison with Mr. Reynolds? Watching it unfold will be a financial spectator sport. 

Keep in mind that Reynolds could be aligned with any of the eventual owners. Who wouldn’t want to reap the marketing bonanza that this Canadian-born Hollywood star would represent?

On his podcast this week, Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman mentioned that Toronto singing star The Weeknd (Abel Makkonen Tesfaye), whose managers have Ottawa roots, could also have an interest in the Sens.

Remember when Ottawa used to be known as the city that fun forgot?

It might soon be the coolest place on earth to watch hockey. And the product on the ice will improve. New ownership might speed that process along as well. 

Here is a look at some of the known interested parties.

Michael Andlauer 

Raised by a single mother in Montreal, Andlauer’s story reads like something out of a Roch Carrier book.

Instead of mistakenly receiving a Toronto Maple Leafs sweater from a catalogue order, Andlauer got the real deal – a Montreal Canadiens sweater for Christmas, which Andlauer promptly dressed up with a No. 10 for Guy Lafleur. He patched on the number with white hockey tape. That Andlauer would grow up to own a stake in the Canadiens (believed to be 20 per cent) seems like a reach even for a Carrier novel. But it happened. 

Andlauer, who owns ATS Healthcare and is president/CEO of Andlauer Management Group (AMG), studied business at York University and made his money in the healthcare transportation business. He owned the AHL Hamilton Bulldogs, which is how he got in the door of Habs ownership (the Bulldogs were the Canadiens’ farm team), and continues to own the Bulldogs since their move to the Ontario Hockey League. It is AMG’s ‘Habdog Investments’ which control the Bulldogs ownership and the partnership with the Habs. 

Of course, Andlauer would have to divest himself of the stake in the Canadiens if he were to become an ownership partner of the Senators. 

Postmedia’s Bruce Garrioch reported last week that Andlauer has formed an alliance with another OHL owner, Rocco Tullio of the Oshawa Generals. 

Tullio, who is from Windsor, On., founded Rock Developments, a commercial building company, in 2001. Tullio owned the Generals in 2015 when now-Senators head coach D.J. Smith coached Oshawa to a Memorial Cup championship. 

It’s clear that some of the alliances being formed are related to the real estate potential in LeBreton Flats, and not just ownership of an NHL team. 

Andre Desmarais

When you think of the ‘usual suspects’ who may be interested in buying the Senators, Desmarais comes to mind. Desmarais is already well known in Ottawa for a variety of reasons, not the least of which was his bid, along with Guy Laliberte (Cirque du Soleil), to build a new arena on LeBreton Flats when proposals were invited several years ago.

As part of the Devcore bid, Desmarais et al. finished second when Rendezvous LeBreton (Melnyk and Trinity Developments) was named the preferred bid in 2016. That bid withered. Desmarais’ interest in the Senators and LeBreton Flats did not. 

Desmarais was born in Ottawa and his father has deep roots in the community, Think Desmarais and Power Corp comes to mind. How the family got there is fascinating.

Andre’s father, Paul, was born in Sudbury and studied business at the University of Ottawa. He left law school early so he could rescue a northern Ontario bus line that belonged to his grandfather. That company would later become the Voyageur bus lines. Paul Desmarais parlayed that business into controlling shares of the massive Power Corp conglomerate in 1968. Forbes once ranked Paul Desmarais the fourth richest man in Canada. The man had serious political connections, with ties to prime ministers Pierre Elliot Trudeau, Brian Mulroney and Paul Martin. 

He didn’t forget his U of O education, pumping $15 million into the business program (Telfer School of Management). To repay their benefactor, the U of O built a 12-storey structure on the U of O campus and named it the Desmarais Building.  Paul Desmarais died in 2013, age 86. 

Andre Desmarais inherited a good deal of his father’s wealth and his seat at the head of Power Corp. Andre married France Chretien, the daughter of former PM Jean Chretien, in 1981. They have four children. 

As part of his Senators bid, Desmarais is reported by RDS to be aligned with Toronto businessman Michael Kimel, and his brother Jeff Kimel. Michael Kimel once owned a minority stake in the Pittsburgh Penguins and thus has NHL connections. 

Michael Kimel 

The story goes that when Phil Kessel had his day with the Stanley Cup in July of 2016, he celebrated that evening in the posh Forest Hill mansion of Mike Kimel.

According to the Globe and Mail, P.K. Subban arrived at the party at midnight with his dancing shoes on and wearing a cowboy hat – fresh from his trade to Nashville from the Montreal Canadiens. 

Kimel, a venture capitalist and hospitality innovator, has a BA in Economics from Western University and is now president and CEO of Harlo Capital. He co-founded Harlo Entertainment and in 2018 bought a Toronto esports franchise, the Toronto Defiant, for $35 million. The Defiant are part of the Overwatch (OWL) league. 

Interestingly, Kimel’s uncle, Ron Kimel, was part of that bid and could be a key reason why Desmarais reached out to the Kimel family. Ron Kimel is director of Westdale Construction Co. and the real estate development company Urbanfund Corp. In other words, Ron Kimel is the building guy who could be important in the LeBreton arena deal. In 2014, Ron Kimel built the $10 million Kimel Family Fieldhouse on the University of Toronto campus. Ron Kimel was a U of T grad. 

Roger Greenberg

When you talk about deep-pocketed local sports ownership in Ottawa, Roger Greenberg is always a strong choice to put at or near the top of the list. Greenberg is a managing partner in the Ottawa Sports and Entertainment Group (OSEG), which owns and operates the CFL's Ottawa Redblacks and OHL's Ottawa 67’s on the Lansdowne Park property that OSEG shaped on city land.

They’re not done yet. Greenberg and fellow managing partner John Ruddy of Trinity Developments have major plans in the works to rebuild the north stands of the stadium and build a new 5,500-seat multi-purpose arena for the 67’s and the broader community. In addition, three apartment towers are proposed. 

“We’re focused on Lansdowne 2.0,” Greenberg told me when I asked him about potentially buying the Senators. “John Ruddy and I have a ton of money invested both emotionally and financially (in Lansdowne) . . . we’re focused on fixing the issues.

“It’s a $1 billion project, easily, when we add the private sector and the public sector components.”

HOWEVER, Greenberg adds that he is “all ears” if someone wants to include him or OSEG to have a local partnership component in the Senators. To this point, despite having already heard from several interested parties, no one has provided him with enough detail as to how the partnership would work. Greenberg and Ruddy aren’t interested in putting money into an NHL club without direct involvement in the operation. 

Among those who have met with Greenberg is Jeff York, another Ottawa area businessman who has long been interested in buying the Senators. 

Jeff York 

Nobody in Ottawa has worked harder behind the scenes regarding the Senators sale than York, the brother of former Senators defenceman Jason York.

According to multiple sources, Jeff York has met with the NHL, Andlauer, Greenberg and Reynolds, among others, as part of his efforts to purchase the hockey team. And this is not York’s first attempt at buying the Senators. He has been knocking on the door for years.

Around Ottawa, York is known as Mr. Farm Boy. York was a longtime CEO of the food market store which is wildly popular in the Nation’s Capital. Farm Boy was founded in Cornwall in 1981 by Jean-Louis Bellemare. Bellemare and York sold the company to the Sobey’s supermarket chain in 2018 for $800 million. 

Recently, York has partnered with Neil and Shawn Malhotra (of Claridge Homes) as a move to strengthen his bid.

Once again, here is an example of a financial player partnering with a real estate/builder type because of LeBreton. And yes, that was Shawn Malhotra sitting with Daniel Alfredsson during last week’s Hockey Hall of Fame ceremony in Toronto, where Alfredsson was inducted as a player.

Alfredsson, by the way, has made it known he wants to wait to see how the ownership situation gets resolved before deciding on his future with the hockey club. 

Greenberg, York and Malhotra represent potentially important local ties that were missing during Melnyk’s reign. So does Alfredsson, of course.

Where this all ends up is anyone’s guess at this point. But a hockey organization that could include Reynolds, The Weeknd and Alfie all at the same time shouldn’t be dull.