Eugene Melnyk has no intention of selling the Ottawa Senators.

Despite the noise after a trying 2017-18 campaign that then leaked into the off-season and the eventual teardown of his team headlined by the trading of franchise icon Erik Karlsson, Melnyk wants to hold onto the team and is looking forward to being one of the NHL’s “underdogs.”

“Eugene Melnyk took the floor at the Board of Governors meeting this week in New York City,” Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman said during Saturday Headlines. “I’m told he gave an impassioned speech about how he’s in Ottawa for the long haul despite what other governors and owners may have read in the media.

“He plans to be there for a long time and he said he ‘relishes the underdog role’ and he’s gonna be there long enough for the Senators to turn around.”

On Saturday night Melnyk’s team, which expected to be among the league’s worst, handed the highly-hyped Toronto Maple Leafs a 5-3 loss.

Not a bad start for these new “underdog” Senators.