Music: {allcanada} DALY ON SENS' OWNERS COMMENTS: 'WE INTEND TO TALK TO

Friday, November 2, 2012

{allcanada} DALY ON SENS' OWNERS COMMENTS: 'WE INTEND TO TALK TO

EUGENE'

The Ottawa Citizen confirms what everyone suspected would happen: Senators owner Eugene Melnyk can expect to hear from NHL commissioner Gary Bettman. And it won't be to talk about the weather.

Melnyk broke the NHL's internal policy against individual team personnel speaking about the on-going NHL lockout and collective bargaining agreement negotiations during a Wednesday interview on Toronto radio station The Fan 590. Among other comments, Melnyk said, "we should be playing hockey by now. Everybody knows it, and we're not."

Bettman and Bill Daly, the NHL's deputy commissioner, are the only two league executives who have permission to speak publicly on lockout-related matters.

"The league has a long-standing policy against club personnel speaking on collective bargaining matters," Daly wrote in an email to the Citizen on Thursday night. "It's a serious policy and one that is well-founded in purpose and rationale."

Daly says, however, that the league employs "discretion" and "common sense" in determining whether specific comments cross the line. He says the league will remind Melynk of the policy, but so far, the Senators owner has not been fined or disciplined.

"We intend to talk to Eugene and understand the circumstances and context of his comments before determining next steps, which depending on their nature, are generally maintained as internal league matters and not disclosed publicly in any event."

In other words, if Melnyk is fined or even slapped on the wrist, it won't be made public.

While Melnyk's words weren't overly controversial, he came across sounding more like a passionate hockey fan than an NHL owner. He says fans don't want to play the blame game over the NHL lockout — they just want to see some hockey.