Article content

Let’s see if we can spot a trend here.

Tuesday night’s game between the Ottawa Senators and Minnesota Wild drew a crowd, if that’s the right term, of 13,804.

We apologize, but this video has failed to load.

tap here to see other videos from our team. Try refreshing your browser, or Ottawa and Calgary twitch uncomfortably as U.S.-based billionaires grow fond of the NHL Back to video

This was just a couple of days after Eugene Melnyk, the Sens’ doofus owner, chose the occasion of his NHL team’s outdoor game with Montreal to articulate his displeasure with attendance in the nation’s capital and hint at moving the team.

That wouldn’t be his first choice, of course, but he might not have any choice in the matter.

Elsewhere, news broke on the same day the Islanders’ ownership group will be developing a rink at Belmont Park in Nassau County, the franchise’s ancestral home. The new facility figures to be completed in three or four years and takes the Isles out of the mix as a possible destination for a team in Quebec City.

Still, it’s not like a move there was imminent or anything. Despite the presence of a gleaming new rink and the lobbying efforts of former prime minister Brian Mulroney, Quebec was likely priced out of the market by the news the Seattle group will pay US$650 million for their expansion team.