Chicoutimi has new front office after the city takes back the team from owners

A new group is taking control of the Chicoutimi Saguenéens franchise after the previous owners called “No mas” on their agreement with the city of Saguenay, giving back the team to the city.

The former group, led by notables Alain Deschênes and former Sag and NHLer Pierre-Marc Bouchard, opted to end their seven-year contract with the city early and give up the team. A three-man group, businessmen Jean-François Abraham and Richard Létourneau and former Sag and NHL netminder Marc Denis, will take over the club for the rest of the season.

Létourneau will be the team’s president, while Abraham and Denis will be VPs, with Denis handling the hockey side and Abraham grabbing the business side.

Létourneau has admitted that the new ownership group doesn’t know the books and will have his work cut out for him.

All employees of the old ownership group have been let go, though some will surely be rehired and the firing solely symbolic.

He admits the new group will have their work cut out for them. He says they will have to look at what is in place and make a plan of attack for the season, and establish a rapport with the city.

New owners also part of 2012 bid

Denis and Abraham also had a bid in for the team in 2012, but lost out to the Bouchard-Deschênes group.

Denis played with head coach and GM Yanick Jean for two seasons with Chicoutimi, so they already have an established relationship.

Denis is best remembered for his tenure as a Columbus Blue Jacket, where he played for five of his ten NHL seasons.

Jean took over the team in November last year after a bizarre situation of being confirmed as taking over before the existing employees, Marc Fortier and Patrice Bosch, were fired.

The Sags are fifth place in the East Division, with a 7-10-1-0 record for 15 points, five points back of fourth-place Victoriaville and 15 back of division leading Shawinigan.

Expected demise

The foursome who signed the original contract in 2012 dropped down to two, as Martin Lavoie and Laval Ménard left the ownership group due to conflicts of interest over the last couple of seasons.

The seven year deal was set to expire at the end of the 2018-19 season, but the ownership group threw in the towel after three years and 18 games. The former group cited a high-price to pay the city yearly in exchange for running the team, and declining attendance making those aforementioned payments harder and harder to make.

Last October, Deschênes said that his team was in the red, adding that he was looking to see if the team could make a gameplan to break even on the year.

RDS is reporting the team has been struggling financially since Guy Carbonneau and his group sold the team.

Attendance has declined since 2012-13, when an average of 2,965 fans filled the seats. This year, the average through 10 home games is 1,835, which is 15th in an 18-team league.

The team has also been below .500 since 2011-12, which can account partly for the low attendance numbers.

Historically, most teams in the CHL also see lower numbers before the new year and better numbers after the holiday season and the trading period, depending on the results of the first half.

The key date in the current situation is last October 23. That is the day that the ownership group reportedly went to visit Saguenay mayor Jean Tremblay and let him know the team couldn’t make the $352,000 payment they owed to the city.

The team was already behind in payments to the tune of $229,000.

Tremblay said that it seemed like Deschênes was simply as far as he could go, that he was “abandoned”.

“It seems like Mr. Deschênes was going along alone, and he was getting killed [in debt],” Tremblay told the journal de Quebec. “He’s a good guy, but the team needs more to function.”

Deal very tough for team – commissioner

QMJHL commissioner Gilles Courteau said that the deal the Saguenéens was “maybe too much” for the team to handle.

“I don’t want to say that they made a mistake [signing the deal in 2012],” Courteau said. “It’s maybe too much for one of our teams. For the city, it’s a great deal.

“I’m very disappointed that the Deschênes group didn’t work out.”

Courteau has also been reassured by mayor Tremblay that the Sags are in the city to stay.

“I’ve never doubted his intensions of keeping the team from the moment I’ve met him,” Courteau said. “It’s very reassuring for me to know that.”

The news for the team Monday was not all bad, as netminder Julio Billia was named QMJHL goalie of the month for October.

The Saguenéens hit the ice in a three-games-in-four-nights trip starting Wednesday in Cape Breton.