New Senators owner Andlauer vows to ‘make the city proud’

OTTAWA — An impassioned Michael Andlauer vowed to take a fan-first approach and help the Ottawa Senators win their first Stanley Cup.

One day after his purchase of the team was unanimously approved by the NHL Board of Governors, Andlauer said he and the Senators “will make the city proud.”

“It’s been a long road, but I must tell you that it’s been worth the journey,” Andlauer said at a press conference Friday. “I can really say I’m finally home. It’s emotional.”

The Senators announced Nov. 5, 2022, that the process of selling the team had begun, six months after Eugene Melnyk, owner since 2003, died from an illness at age 62. His daughters, Anna and Olivia Melnyk, will retain a 10 percent interest through the Melnyk Estate.

NHL commissioner Gary Bettman said Andlauer is the perfect owner for the team.

“I don’t think there’s anybody who should have any concerns about the future of this franchise, or the future of this franchise in Ottawa,” Bettman said. “In fact, to the contrary. I think everybody can be assured that the best days of this franchise are yet to come.”

For the next five years, at least, those days will be spent in Kanata, where they play at Canadian Tire Centre. But Andlauer expressed a commitment to building a new downtown arena in the near future. He said he’s already had multiple conversations with the National Capital Commission, which owns the long sought-after lands at LeBreton Flats, and Ottawa mayor Mark Sutcliffe, who has brought up vacant federal buildings as a possible site for the Senators’ next home.

“To me, and in talking to the mayor as well, I like options,” Andlauer said. “To me, the most important thing is what’s important to the fans. If I can increase the fan experience, that’s what I’m here for. Probably the fans will help me dictate where the best place to be is.

“We’re all going in the same direction. So it’s a matter of collaborating, working together and seeing what works, and making it a truly win-win-win situation.”

Andlauer’s promise to always put fans, players and employees first started with bringing back a beloved figure who had a hand in the Senators’ winning bid during NHL expansion in 1992. Cyril Leeder, who spent 25 years with the franchise (1992-2017), is the team’s new chief executive officer.

“It’s not often in life that you get a second chance or a do-over on things that are really important to you,” Leeder said.

Andlauer is a proven winner in the hockey world. As an owner, he has won an American Hockey League championship (Hamilton, 2007) and two Ontario Hockey League championships (Hamilton, 2018, 2022). He believes he can “make a difference” with the Senators, whose young core, driven by forwards Brady Tkachuk, Tim Stützle, Josh Norris, Jake Sanderson and Thomas Chabot, is on the brink of bringing the team back to the postseason for the first time since 2016-17.

Andlauer, who recently bought a home in Ottawa’s Westboro neighborhood and plans to make it out to every “four out of five” regular-season games, says hockey has been a part of his life since he can remember.

“My mom and I lived on the top floor of a duplex and it was actually right across the street from McDonald Park (in Montreal’s Notre Dame de Grace neighborhood),” Andlauer said. “I’d put my skates on and tiptoe across the street, walk over to the outdoor rink and play until my mom turned the lights on and off in the window and I had to go back home.”

Andlauer said the 321-day journey that ultimately led to his NHL ownership was paved by the support he received from his family.

“And thank you to my kids for allowing me to spend your inheritance on pursuing my passion,” Andlauer said, the crowd responding with laughter and applause.