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The report also claimed that Laliberté played a role in the club’s refinancing.

Ruszkowski said the Senators had never held any sale discussions with Laliberté and that Melnyk isn’t in any discussions with anyone about selling the team.

“On behalf of the Ottawa Senators and our owner Eugene Melnyk, let me keep it very simple: the team is not for sale, nor are we negotiating any offer,” Ruszkowski said. “We made public our $135 million financing (Wednesday) to signal our intent to invest in the team, the fan experience, and in our community.

“At no time has the club or any of its executives interacted with Mr. Laliberte on our business, and certainly he had no involvement in our recent financing. Our owner has never worked with him, in any capacity.”

NHL officials confirmed Thursday morning that a group had approached Melnyk.

Deputy commissioner Bill Daly said in an email to Postmedia after the report appeared that an offer had been made, but didn’t say where it came from or even it was made recently. He did say Melnyk had “turned it down” and that offers for NHL franchises are commonplace.

“Eugene has no interest in selling the Senators,” Daly wrote. “Offers are made for NHL teams all the time. Doesn’t really mean anything.”

Of course, the news of this possible transaction reignited the rumour mill in Ottawa. There has been no shortage of talk about a possible sale of the franchise for the past few years, and those whispers picked up steam in the past 12 months, but Melnyk has been steadfast in his denials.