NHL commissioner Bettman says Senators aren't currently for sale

TAMPA, Fla. — Gary Bettman says the Ottawa Senators are not currently for sale following the death of owner Eugene Melnyk.

Speaking during the first intermission of Game 3 between the Tampa Bay Lightning and Toronto Maple Leafs at Amalie Arena, the NHL commissioner indicated Melnyk's daughters — who are 19 and 23 — will have to ultimately decide how they want to proceed.

"The franchise is being professionally run," Bettman told reporters. "The club's not on the market. There's no urgency. The club's not unstable.

"There are no problems."

Melnyk died March 28 at age 62 after battling an illness. He had previously said he planned to leave the team to his daughters, Anna and Olivia.

He purchased the Senators in 2003 for US$92 million at a time when the franchise faced bankruptcy and a tenuous future in the nation's capital.

The team is now worth $525 million, according to Forbes.

The Senators played in the Stanley Cup final in 2007 when Ottawa lost in five games to the Anaheim Ducks, but Melnyk's relationship with the fan base soured in recent years.

The owner said before a 2017 outdoor game in Ottawa he might move the team if attendance didn't increase and sparked a "#MelnykOut" campaign on city billboards and social media.

The Senators haven't qualified for the playoffs since making it to double overtime of Game 7 of the 2017 Eastern Conference final, but have a promising young core of talent let by Brady Tkachuk, Tim Stutzle, Josh Norris, Drake Batherson and Thomas Chabot.

Corporate infighting and lawsuits between Melnyk and a developer over building a new downtown arena — the team has played in suburban Kanata since 1996 — just west of Parliament Hill ultimately torpedoed that deal in 2019.

The door, however, remains