Melnyk Lawsuit, Peter Cech Plays Hockey, Logan Brown Accepts a Challenge

Are we really only five games into this season? It seems like so much has happened already, but the truth is we’re barely halfway through the first month. The Sens have mostly performed as we expected; plucky but a bit over-matched. Alas, the focus has not entirely been on the on-ice product and today’s news and notes isn’t much different:

• Eugene Melnyk’s legal odyssey continues. It was reported yesterday by CTV that the lawsuit he brought against Trinity Development Group after their joint bid to develop Lebreton Flats failed (as well as the counter-suit from John Ruddy and co.) will be going ahead. I’m not a lawyer but I have to say that I’m sort of surprised this process has even gotten this far; or maybe I’m still (somehow) underestimating Melnyk’s level of pettiness.
• Speaking of Melnyk, Wayne Scanlan had an interesting piece up for Sportsnet yesterday discussing the team’s attendance woes this season. The biggest take-away is that Scanlan cites a source as saying the Sens’ season ticket base has dropped all the way down to 3,500. Even for a team that’s long been reliant on walk-up crowds, it’s startling to see that low of a number. Unfortunately, I don’t expect things will improve much in the coming months — this will not be the last time you have to hear about the Sens’ attendance woes.
• With Artem Anisimov injured, it was a bit surprising that Logan Brown didn’t get the call-up to join the Sens in Las Vegas. Bruce Garrioch had a short interview with the youngster yesterday that’s worth a read. Brown admits that he took the demotion hard at first, but you get the sense he’s taken the challenge head-on. If he keeps putting up four point games like he did last Saturday, it’s going to be hard to keep him in the AHL too much longer.
• In case you missed it: Peter Cech, the former professional soccer goalie, is trying to make a go of playing semi-pro hockey. Cech is 37 years old, but he’s also a professional athlete who played hockey growing up in the Czech Republic and he’s 6 feet 5 inches tall so he’s got a lot of the raw tools required. He even made the shootout winning save in his debut:/

Craig Custance at the Athletic had a fun feature on Wednesday in which he got several goalie coaches to comment on Cech’s form during the shoot-out. As someone who knows basically nothing about goalie positioning, the story was fun and very informative.

• It doesn’t seem like it’s serious, but John Tortorella did have surgery to remove basal cell carcinoma  — a form of skin cancer. We wish Torts a speedy recovery!
• Lastly, this isn’t really a link, news, or a note but I will never cease to be amazed by Connor McDavid’s skating ability. If you missed his goal last night, feast your eyes on this:/

Sometimes Connor McDavid (@cmcdavid97) is simply unfair and this is just one of those times. #WNH

📺: https://t.co/D8xZaK9qHi @NHLonNBCSports pic.twitter.com/JgHtP3Mi7w

— NHL (@NHL) October 17, 2019

When he blows right past defenders like that, it reminds me of watching a children’s hockey game where one player is just better than everyone else....except McDavid is doing it in the NHL!