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A gaggle led by celebrity actor Ryan Reynolds is reportedly getting ready a bid of greater than $1 billion in an effort to buy the NHL’s Ottawa Senators.
In accordance with Bruce Garrioch of the Ottawa Solar (h/t TSN), Reynolds is partnering with the Remington Group, which is an actual property growth firm primarily based in Ontario.
The 46-year-old Reynolds was born in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, and he joined the ranks as an expert sports activities franchise proprietor in 2021 when he and fellow actor Rob McElhenney bought Welsh soccer crew Wrexham AFC.
Wrexham has already achieved nice success underneath Reynolds’ possession, because the membership earned promotion from the Nationwide League to the English Soccer League final week.
The Senators, who’ve been owned by the Melnyk household since 2003, had been made out there on the market after Eugene Melnyk’s loss of life in March 2022.
Per Garrioch, remaining bids for the franchise are due by Could 15.
TSN reported that Remington Group needs a high-profile face as a part of the possession group, which is the place Reynolds is available in. It additionally needs to construct a brand new enviornment for the Senators in downtown Ottawa.
Ought to Remington Group and Reynolds buy the Senators, Reynolds reportedly plans to enlist a manufacturing firm to create a docu-series concerning the buy and the development of the brand new enviornment in the identical vein because the Welcome to Wrexham collection targeted on Reynolds’ buy of Wrexham.
If the determine of $1 billion is true for the Remington Group and Reynolds bid, it might set a brand new document for the biggest franchise sale in NHL historical past, which is at the moment owned by the Pittsburgh Penguins, who had been purchased by Fenway Sports activities Group for $900 million in 2021.
The Senators joined the NHL as an enlargement crew in 1992, and since then, they’ve reached the playoffs 16 instances in 30 seasons.
Whereas Ottawa has but to win a Stanley Cup, it reached the Stanley Cup Closing for the primary and solely time in 2007.
The Senators reached the playoffs in 11 straight seasons from 1996 by way of 2008, however they’ve missed the playoffs in every of the previous six seasons, which is the longest drought in crew historical past.
Ottawa is seemingly a crew on the rise, although, because it went from 73 factors in 2021-22 to 86 factors this season, simply six factors out of a playoff spot within the Jap Convention.
With Brady Tkachuk, Alex DeBrincat, Tim Stützle and Jakob Chychrun main the way in which, the Sens could possibly be poised to return to the playoffs as quickly as subsequent season.
