In case you missed it, it was a banner day for Eugene Melnyk as the bid he fronted for the redevelopment of LeBreton Flats was the one that was chosen by the committee to move onto the next stage of negotiations with the NCC, which will take place over the summer.
While that is great news for the club in terms of the long run, and Melnyk professed that is is a game-changer for the club, the changes will not be imminent.
I am not going to pretend to be an expert on the situation, but the new arena and move downtown is at least 5 years away, and maybe closer to 7 or 8 years with all the red tape that is going to have to be gone through. Remember the hoops that had to be jumped when the Palladium was built? They sent a canoeist down a stream to see if the waterway was considered "navigable" or not and what effect that would have on nature and the wildlife in the area, for example.
It will probably be at least 3 years before a shovel even breaks ground.
I know there is more than Melnyk's own bucks behind the bid, but there won't be much in terms of immediate help that I can see. I saw some reactions on twitter to the tune of "back the dump truck up to Mike Hoffman's house now", perhaps expecting that the team will all of a sudden become a cap team.
The fact is, whatever Melnyk's current financial situation is, there won't be a sudden influx of cash, and it could go the other way. The development is going to take a lot of upfront money, debt, loans and everything that comes along with a project of this magnitude which could put even more constraint on what is available to the team in terms of salary for the on-ice product.
And that timeline is assuming the negotiations go smoothly with the NCC and the bid does get final approval from the Federal Cabinet before the end of this year. We all know Melnyk can be pretty hard-headed and is often prone to open his mouth at inopportune times that can get him in trouble, which could muddy the waters, and you can bet he will want to be front and centre in the process.
The process is far from over, and if this downtown redevelopment could be compared to a 110M hurdles race, they have only just cleared the first barrier.