A week has gone by after this Erik Karlsson deal which pretty much killed the Senators’ season for this year and possibly the next couple of years. This after the awkward video with Eugene Melnyk and now #1 defenseman Mark Borowiecki, this after the summer of drama where former assistant GM Randy Lee harassed a shuttle bus driver, Mike Hoffman got dealt after alleged dealings between his girlfriend and Karlsson’s wife, Craig Anderson was tired of the drama, and Bobby Ryan hid out in Idaho in an attempt to avoid a trade. Okay…hid out isn’t the best word, as he does live there in the off-season, but it’s a good storyline to add to this dysfunction.

When you hear the fans wanting Melnyk to sell the team (though that’s not how ownership works, but you do you), it’s hard not to agree with them and hope that the NHL will some how have a change of heart and strip the team from Melnyk and own the team once again. Pierre Dorian takes the fall, but Melnyk meddles in the dealings too much for Dorian to take the full brunt. (Take note Hurricanes fans, this could be you.)

It’s not a wonder why the Ottawa Senators won’t be using the old school “O” as their new alternates– the memes are too easy at that point with the amount of disarray the team is in. While the fans want it, it’s a smart marketing situation….if their marketing team still exists.

Let’s face it, odds are that Matt Duchene will be dealt, Anderson will most likely be dealt, and the landslide will keep coming. It’s going to be years for this team to be one goal away from the Stanley Cup Final again. The prospects they have are…not there yet and may never be there, honestly.  They have a lot of solid defensive prospects, but in a high-tempo offensive system– their lack of offense and goaltending will be the downfall of the future Sens unless a diamond in the rough comes along.

But what can be done?? You can’t fire the GM or coach because the next one will have Melnyk breathing down their throats. Melnyk isn’t going to sell the team because he doesn’t see why he should and won’t get the money he wants for it anyway…unless those Quebec City people really put a big number out there.

So Ottawa fans are there, having seats being taken away from the arena…and it still looks empty. I can empathize with the Senators fans. When the great Capitals Purge of the mid-00s happened, those were lean years. Matt Yeats was the back-up, Chris Clark was the captain, Jason Doig was a top-pairing defenseman…it was weird. Then 15 years later, the Caps won the Stanley Cup and that was all a distant memory.

I remember when the Senators came into the league and they were god-horrible. Now it’s almost a time where it’s going to be the second-coming of that. Hell, maybe even Peter Sidorkiewicz could be the All-Star representation again. It’s going to get better, Ottawa fans. Who knows, they could be a random success story the next few years, they could get that arena downtown and make Melnyk care more about getting fans in, or they could move away.

Something will happen that’ll be either much better or much worse than what’s going on this past summer.