Ottawa Senators President Addresses Fans' Concerns As Team Announces Games In Quebec City

The Ottawa Senators announced on Monday that they'll play two pre-season games in Quebec City this fall. The Senators will face the New Jersey Devils on Sept. 28 and the Montreal Canadiens on Sept. 30 at Videotron Centre.

The optics of the announcement were unsettling for many Senators fans, who shared their concerns on social media in a big way.

This is a fan base that has lived through some shaky times with past ownership of their beloved NHL team. On two occasions, the franchise has been sold while facing bankruptcy. In 2017, right before the NHL outdoor game in Ottawa, former owner Eugene Melnyk dangled the notion of Sens relocation during a media scrum. That was the crown jewel of many Melnyk missteps over the years.

During the darkest days of the Melnyk era, amid extended losing slides, fans would often endure social media chirps like, "Just move them to Quebec City."

So, that's where the sensitivity comes from. But almost everyone would have been fine with a couple of neutral-site exhibition games. Those happen every year, whether it's in Sudbury or somewhere on the east coast.

But when asked about the idea of playing some regular season games in Quebec City in the future, Sens owner Michael Andlauer didn't rule it out, which probably amplified fan concerns. And for the news conference, the club dressed up their mascot, Spartacat, in an NHL sweater that was half Ottawa Senators, half Quebec Nordiques.

Even Sparty's sweater seemed to be transitioning from Ottawa to Quebec City, so the replies to their post below were not favourable.

Andlauer made it clear at the news conference today that he loves being in Ottawa-Gatineau, and any talk of relocation is a hard no.

So, why are they doing this? Why not stay here and try and focus growth efforts in Gatineau?

Team President Cyril Leeder further explained the team's position on TSN 1200 radio this afternoon.

"It's a move on our part designed to help us expand our broadcast footprint, especially with francophone fans," Leeder said. "Our broadcast territory goes from Kingston to Newfoundland. And the big area for us in that territory, obviously, is Ottawa-Gatineau. That's our main territory.

"After that, it's the province of Quebec where our viewers come from, and third is the Maritimes. So this has been in the works for us to help grow that footprint and that fan base from Gatineau right through to the entire province and also in the Maritimes."

There aren't many cities with an NHL-sized rink that would pack the house for a neutral site exhibition game. But Quebec City will always try to do so as they try and prove they deserve a team. The LA Kings had two exhibition games there last fall, and the one against the Boston Bruins drew 17,334 fans. But Leeder says ticket sales aren't driving this.

"We get the same dollars if we played in Ottawa. It's just we're trying to expand our fan base with the francophone market, and Quebec's the biggest city. It's also up for grabs (for potential fan support), too."

Many have suggested this may be a pressure tactic to give the NCC something to think about during sluggish negotiations. The Sens continue to negotiate with the Commission over a land deal for a new arena closer to downtown and Andlauer has made no secret of the fact that he thought things would be settled by now.

Leeder says today's announcement was planned weeks ago and had nothing to do with trying to expedite talks or send messages to the NCC.

"Michael made it really clear that this is not about moving to Quebec City. This is not about a tactic here to get the NCC to move. These games were in the works for a while, and we picked this date for the announcement six weeks ago."

But Leeder also says he understands why fans weren't fond of seeing the image of the mascot, a strong symbol of the franchise, being partially decked out in Quebec Nordiques colours. While it was meant to be a nod to Nordique fans, it landed badly in Ottawa.

"If we had a do-over on that one, would we do that one differently? We probably would."

He went a step further on his own social media this evening.

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