Editing Ottawa Senators (section)

====Bankruptcy and sale to Eugene Melnyk====
In 2000, owner Bryden publicly appealed for tax relief from the Government of Canada for all Canadian NHL teams, coping with a significant drop in the Canadian dollar. His appeal was first met with a plan for tax relief, but the tax relief program was cancelled.<ref name="ct-sale">{{cite news |title=Sale will help keep Senators in Ottawa; Move won't result in cutting team's payroll, Rod Bryden says |newspaper=The Record |location=Kitchener, Ont. |date=January 9, 2002 |page=C1}}</ref> Bryden then announced the sale of the club outright to a limited partnership in 2002 for {{CAD|186}}&nbsp;million, which would include creditors and Bryden himself.<ref name="ct-sale"/> After its principal creditor Ogden Entertainment failed, the Senators entered bankruptcy protection in January 2003, owing {{CAD|160}}&nbsp;million for the club and {{CAD|210}}&nbsp;million for the arena.<ref>{{cite news |title=Creditors agree to conditional sale of Ottawa Senators to Rod Bryden |last=Erwin |first=Steve |work=Canadian Press NewsWire |location=Toronto, Ont. |date=February 23, 2003}}</ref> The deal fell through in 2003 when American investor [[Nelson Peltz]] declined to get involved.<ref>{{cite news |title=Rod Bryden's deal to repurchase the Ottawa: Senators falls through; team back on market|first=Shi |last=Davidi |newspaper=Whitehorse Star |location=Whitehorse, Y.T. |date=February 28, 2003 |page=49}}</ref>

In August 2003, pharmaceutical billionaire [[Eugene Melnyk]] purchased the club for a reported {{CAD|130}}&nbsp;million.<ref>{{Cite news |newspaper=The Gazette |location=Montreal, Que.|title=Billionaire Melnyk reaches deal to purchase Senators |date=April 28, 2003 |pages=C2}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=Melnyk promises stable ownership: Purchase of Senators officially closed Tuesday |newspaper=Packet and Times |location=Orillia, Ont. |date=August 27, 2003 |page=B2}}</ref> Melnyk, principal shareholder of [[Biovail|Biovail Pharmaceuticals]], chose to finance half of the purchase price for the club and arena with debt. Share values of Biovail were depressed, and he did not want to sell them at the lower price.<ref>{{cite news |work=The Ottawa Citizen |first=James |last=Bagnall |title=Under Eugene Melnyk, Senators have lost $94 million |date=August 15, 2013 <!--|access-date=April 11, 2023-->}}</ref>