Before getting into this week’s news, views, notes and quotes, we’ll begin with a quick memo to Eugene Melnyk, the often misunderstood owner of the Senators:

Eugene, it appears your clients are disenchanted with the way you inadvertently put your good friend Dave Cameron through living hell the last three weeks of his coaching tenure with your club. No doubt you’re embarrassed about it too, which is why, as of Thursday, you hadn’t bothered to give “Davey” a call to apologize for the way things went down. I know, what do you say to him now, right? Sorry seems to be the hardest word.

If I were you, I might have gone on a three-month vacation this week as well.

The folks who financially and emotionally support your team also aren’t pleased that, for the second time in the last three springs, they have no playoff games to attend at Canadian Tire Centre. The ones with elephant memories keep bringing up the fact the Senators have won only one post-season series since the 2007 Eastern Conference final. We tried telling them the Maple Leafs have only been to the playoffs once since 2005-06 — and that visit ended in an embarrassing collapse against the Bruins — but that gave them no comfort whatsoever.

They are not happy with you or your team right now, Eugene, and that’s not good for business.

But here’s a way to get them back on your side and greatly improve your chances of qualifying for the 2017 post-season tournament — if not make the Senators a Stanley Cup contender. It’s a big step and it goes against your way of thinking, but desperate times call for drastic measures.

What you need to do is go after Steven Stamkos, if he indeed becomes a free agent July. 1.

You need a top-line player in a big way, but in every trade you’re going to have to part with a bundle to get one, and there won’t be much else to get excited about on the UFA list. Landing Stamkos would only cost you a lot of money, which is what you might lose if you don’t do something quick.

He’d never come to Ottawa? How do we know that? Make him an offer he can’t refuse.

Tell him he can play centre, which apparently is important. Remind him Erik Karlsson will be feeding him passes. Hey, signing Stamkos, who at 26 is only one year older than Karlsson, will probably help you re-ink your captain when his deal expires, too.

Also remember this —signing Stamkos would crush the Maple Leafs, who surely want to bring him home. And both you and your clients love to crush the Maple Leafs.

Anyway, give it some thought.

Sincerely,

Doni-Brook.

LEADING OFF SECOND

Cameron will apparently be paid $800,000 not to coach the Senators next season. There’s a lot I would not do for 800 grand … About the speculation Jacques Martin could return for his second stint as Senators bench boss — forget it. He’s a good man (with a new hip) and a good coach, but that idea is too 1990s … Can’t see this either, but if the New York Rangers fail to get past the Pittsburgh Penguins, is there any way they would dump Alain Vigneault? If so, he should shoot to the top of the Senators’ list … It’ll be interesting to see what the Toronto Raptors do their playoffs, which they start Saturday afternoon against the Indiana Pacers. But in the end, it will be irrelevant. Nobody’s beating the Dubs (aka, Golden State Warriors), the first non-football pro team to keep the number of losses to a single digit since the Habs went 60-8-12 in 1976-77 … Steph Curry’s 402 three-pointers beat the NBA record he held by 116. Isn’t that like Wayne Gretzky scoring 92 goals the season after he had 55?

CONNECTING THE DOTS

It will probably take an impressive bit of negotiating for the Senators to sign college star Drake Caggiula, who is apparently also being courted by Edmonton, Philadelphia, Vancouver and Chicago. For his first three years at North Dakota, Caggiula’s coach was current Flyers bench boss Dave Hakstol, while one of his linemates this year (Brock Boeser) is a first-round pick of the Canucks and the other (Nick Schmaltz) is a first-round pick of the Blackhawks … More than 10,000 tickets were purchased in under three hours for the UFC Fight Night on June 18 headlined by Rory MacDonald and Stephen Thompson. It was the fastest sellout ever at The Arena at TD Place. Like it or not, there is a demand for UFC, and such events should have been permitted in Ottawa long ago ... It’s the time of year again when Victor Hedman is going to make us wish we would have given him more Norris consideration.

OFF THE CUFF

There will be at least two local athletes worth watching at the Olympic Games in Rio — Smiths Falls’ Brooke Henderson and Melissa Bishop, a fetching 27-year old from Eganville who set a new Canadian record with a 2:00.60 in the 800 meters six weeks ago in Ireland … Remember when GWG’s were jeans? Now it’s a category Mika Zibanejad led all Senators in, with seven. Zack Smith was second with four game-winning goals … In the ’80s I would leave my day job and head to a Blue Jays game at Exhibition Stadium, where three bucks could buy a ticket on the first-base side, even for a double header. It now costs $3.25 to take a subway to the games … Last year, Chris Wideman took an off-season job as an investment banker in New York City. He’ll relax this summer after returning from Russia, where he is representing Team USA in the world championship. “I was cut from the world junior team years ago, and I thought that was probably my last shot at playing any USA hockey,” said the Senators defenceman. “So this is going to be special.”

FINAL THOUGHTS

Coaching the Moncton Wildcats in their best-of-seven, second-round Quebec Major Junior Hockey League playoff series against the Gatineau Olympiques is former NHL defenceman Darren Rumble, who recently told Le Droit sports editor Sylvain St. Laurent the “two most difficult years” of his playing career were with the Senators. They were also the first two years of the Senators’ rebirth, and Rumble was minus-74 in 139 games … Jordan Spieth answered a stupid question from reporters the way Senators should have: “Would you be disappointed? … Yes, the Senators won the Brian Elliott-for-Craig Anderson trade, but one of them is sitting by a pool in Florida and the other shut out the defending Stanley Cup champs in the first game of the playoffs.

WILD COACH COULD BE GOOD FIT

In his first year as a head coach, Mike Yeo took the Houston Aeros to the 2010-11 Calder Cup final against the Binghamton Senators.

In his last two years as a head coach, he guided the Minnesota Wild into the second round of the Western Conference playoffs, which is not easy to do.

Throw in the fact he’s from North Bay, where so much good comes from, and you’ve got yourself a damn fine coaching candidate.

Because he’s currently without work, Yeo could be one of the first to be interviewed for the Senators job when GM Pierre Dorion starts the process next week, upon his return from the world under-18 championship in Grand Forks, N.D. Also expected to be invited for sit downs with Dorion soon are Guy Boucher, Marc Crawford and possibly Randy Carlyle.

Depending on what happens in the playoffs, Bruce Boudreau, Ken Hitchcock and John Stevens and could join the list of candidates.

Expressing interest in the position on Friday, without being overzealous, was Adam Oates, a 53-year old Hall of Famer who guided the Caps for a couple of seasons before Barry Trotz took over. Oates, who was last a co-coach with the Devils in 2014-15, told TSN 1200 he would like to get back behind the bench as the man in charge.

“If I’m one of the candidates, great,” said Oates, who is in Ottawa for the Celebrity Cup. “If not, I understand.”

That he made it to the playoffs in only one of his two seasons with Washington, and lost in the first round when he did, will probably work against Oates.

While Eugene Melnyk says he’ll open the wallet wider to get an experienced coach, he likely won’t have to spend in the $5 million range— a figure that was thrown at the Senators owner earlier this week, prompting the response: “Does he walk on water? I mean, $5 million…”

According to CapFriendly, the top three highest paid coaches this season were Toronto’s Mike Babcock ($6.25 million), Buffalo’s Dan Bylsma ($3 million) and Edmonton’s Todd McLellan ($3 million). Chicago’s Joel Quenneville made $2.75 million this year, as he will next season, before escalating to $6 million in the final three seasons of his contract.

TOP FIVE DAVE CAMERON QUOTES AS SENATORS COACH

5. “The first thing I asked my team today was, ‘How do you think the refereeing is going to be tonight?’ After what happened, it’s going to be like breaking into a police station and trying to steal something. You ain’t getting away with it.”

— Going into Game 2 — after P.K. Subban’s slash on Mark Stone in Game 1 and threats of retribution were made — of last year’s playoff battle with the Montreal Canadiens.

4. ”It wasn’t until I was in peewee that we had artificial ice. We played a lot on the ponds ... I don’t know if it’s because I’m getting older, but it seemed like it was a lot colder for a lot longer, so our pond was the local lagoon where the sewer drained. It was a quarter mile back of the tracks, and if you weren’t there on a Saturday or Sunday by 10, and had your game established, you had to go back and try and find a spot. The big advantage for the lagoon was, we grew up in a home where the parents were always on top of you, so we always told mom when it was supper time, just flush twice. The pump spot in the middle never froze, it just bubbled. We didn’t have the scoreboard, but we had advanced technology.”

— Last February, on what Hockey Day in Canada means to him.

3. “For me it’s almost like it’s too hard for some guys to play the right way every night, and we’re 50-some games into this year… and we said at the start of the year we’ll know what we are in terms of players and right now, when you drop off like that and that’s not the first time we’ve done it, I’m starting to think it might be too hard for guys to be able to play in the National Hockey League at a high level.”

­— After a 3-0 loss to the Rangers in late January.

2. “Is there any line in the NHL which stays together for every shift for 82 games? If there was, you wouldn’t need a coach, you just open the door. That’s what you do. Sometimes, you’re right. Sometimes, you’re not. I don’t know when and I hope it’s not real soon, but this job will be available again. Apply.”

— After being second guessed by critics for demoting Mike Hoffman to the fourth line.

1. “It was hurtful. I didn’t think there was any need of it. I felt like I was fired for three weeks … every day. You can evaluate all you want my coaching, fire me, I understand all that. There’s no need of being hurtful. We’re human beings at the end of the day.”

— In his last press conference, speaking about owner Eugene Melnyk publicly stating he felt there was “stupidity” in some of the coaching decisions this season.