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Sens owner preaches ‘wise’ spending after lucrative TV deal

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By Ottawa Senators owner Eugene Melnyk’s own admission, his team has lost $110 million from when he took over in 2003 through Oct. 2013. At that time, he suggested that the Senators, which have the fifth lowest cap hit in the league, were still open to being buyers at the deadline.

Now that they have inked a broadcast deal with Bell Media believed to be worth up to $400 million over 12 years, you would assume that Melnyk will open up his wallet. And that might be the case – to an extent.

“We are going to be competitive in spending on players,” Melnyk promised, according to the Ottawa Citizen. “If I need to spend an extra $2 million to $3 million (on unrestricted free agents) to make the playoffs, it’s a no-brainer. I’ll do it.”

At the same time, Melnyk wants the team to spend “wisely” and cautioned that having extra money doesn’t automatically lead to spending more.

It will be an interesting storyline as we head towards the deadline given that the Senators are fiercely battling for a postseason spot and are in a unique position to add aggressively with their excessive cap space. If they prove to be major buyers at the deadline it would also help contrast them from the team that couldn’t lock up Daniel Alfredsson over the summer.

Follow @RyanDadoun