As summer’s searing last (we hope) gasp escaped from the open door to hell in Ottawa on Wednesday, the Ottawa Senators own summer of bad news, embarrassing behaviour and public relations fiascos looked like it might have changed for the better.



The Senators’ cone of silence and summer of 6 p.m. news dumps has been well documented here at The Athletic from the battling Significant Others, which led to the trading of forward Mike Hoffman, to former assistant GM Randy Lee’s legal issues, which led to his resignation, to the handling of the Erik Karlsson, Mark Stone and Matt Duchene contract situations, which could lead to one or all of them being traded at some point this season.



There has not been an off-season in the Senators’ 25 years when there has been as much discontent among its fans. I’ve been running into longtime season ticket holders all summer who have said they haven’t renewed their tickets. They said they are fed up with...