A day after the coach stood in front of the media firing squad and didn't say a whole lot of anything substantial, and the players almost to a many expressed their optimism for the group that was in the room and their potential going forward (as well as their desire to remain on the team), it will be upper management's turn to face the music tonight and tomorrow morning.

Owner and CEO Eugene Melnyk and GM Pierre Dorion will be the hosts of a pair of "town hall" style gatherings, tonight at Canadian Tire Centre and tomorrow morning (7a.m.) at the Ottawa Conference and Events Centre.

It will be interesting to see what direction these meetings take, because as of right now there hasn't been much publicly released as to the format. Only season ticket holders are invited, and the media presence will be limited to one representative from each media outlet.

Ideally, they should be aired at least on radio, or broadcast on the Senators facebook page or Sens TV. Rightly or wrongly, Melnyk stirred up a hornet's nest with his comments and the way the team has been run, and he needs to answer for that. And the mistake to limit it to season ticket holders is a poor business model, because it is those who don't have season tickets, who aren't blindly supporting the franchise (whether or not they support the owner) that have to be convinced that the club will do what it can to be competitive over the long haul and to make it worth going to games.

The club already has the people that will be there, for the most part, or people that are at least on the fence.


We know Melnyk doesn't have a history of taking criticism very well, and this could be relatively hostile group of fans that want to be heard.

The best thing, but also probably the most unlikely thing Melnyk and (to a lesser extent) Dorion need to do is sit there and take it, and eat some crow. Whether or not Melnyk has the ability to sit back and take it without firing back and further alienating the portion of the fan base that really holds his success or failure in their hands remains to be seen.

There will be promises that those in attendance will be looking for (Erik Karlsson being a Senator for the foreseeable future being at the top of the list), but other than saying they will make every effort to do so, they can't promise that because there are two sides, and that is going to be a difficult contract to get done given where they are right now.

Like Guy Boucher yesterday, the tone from Melnyk and Dorion will likely focus on the future, while I think a lot of people want Melnyk to also answer for the past, dating right back to failing to re-sign Daniel Alfredsson and how that situation was handled, which was a precursor to the mess they find themselves in now. Those things that you can't change, but set the direction and the tone for the apparent dysfunction that has made the organization, win or lose on the ice, a relative laughingstock off of it.

I have no idea what to expect as a result, but it will be somewhere between marching out hand in hand singing Kumbaya and having the whole organization burned to the ground. And I am leaning toward it being the latter given the stubbornness of the owner and the state of the fan base toward him.

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