Ryan Reynolds is confident he can help the Ottawa Senators reach for the stars.
The Vancouver-born actor, who has expressed publicly he’s interested in being a partner with the new owner of the Senators, told Derek Monias, the student chief at Dennis Franklin Cromarty school in Thunder Bay, Ont, that he’s excited about being part of the project.
The 46-year-old Reynolds did a Zoom call with the school’s radio club and it went viral among Ottawa fans after being posted by CBC on Wednesday night.
Reynolds spent part of his youth in Vanier and has kept a close connection to Ottawa, a big reason why he wants to be part of the future of the Senators with a new rink at LeBreton Flats.
“If I wasn’t in my own apartment, I would have spat that out,” Reynolds said with a smile when asked about being an owner of the Senators. “We’ll see. There’s not too much I can say right now, but I have real connection to the community of Ottawa. I don’t feel like I have a unilateral perspective community, but I certainly have a perspective on how to tell the story of Ottawa through the prism of what it means to me.
“I spent quite a bit of time there when I was younger, and I think the Ottawa Senators, as an organization, can explode, not just within its own community and in Canada, but I also think globally. That’s something I’m deeply interested in, but we’ll see where it shakes out.”
Reynolds met with commissioner Gary Bettman and deputy commissioner Bill Daly at National Hockey League headquarters in New York to discuss what he’d bring to the table as part of an ownership group.
“The journey has also been really interesting,” Reynolds said. “I’ve learned so much. I’ve learned more about the inner-workings of the NHL over the last couple of months than I would have ever dreamed of, so it’s been a lot of fun.
“If we progress with the Ottawa Senators, I will be a frothy, rabies-infused fan the likes of which the NHL has never seen.”
As this newspaper reported, the league wants Reynolds to play a role in Senators ownership. He and partner Rob McElhenney purchased the Wrexham FC soccer club in Wales. With Reynolds’ Los Angeles-based production company, Maximum Effort, they’ve turned it into a series called Welcome to Wrexham.
Reynolds has the same kind of plan for a series with the Senators.
“I love that part of sports — and I think that’s why I’ve gotten involved with sports ownership — because I love telling, not just the story of the team, but I like telling the story of the community around that team,” Reynolds said.
“More often than not the two are inextricably linked.”
Ottawa fans would be thrilled if the Deadpool star was linked to the Senators when the dust is settled.
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A NICE OPPORTUNITY
Injuries have meant the Senators have had to reach down their American Hockey League affiliate in Belleville for help so that head coach D.J. Smith can fill out the roster nightly.
Forward Jake Lucchini made his NHL debut against the Habs. The 27-year-old played 10 minutes and was fine. It’s been a long road to the NHL for Lucchini, a graduate of Michigan Tech, who spent six years in the AHL before getting the call-up.
“It’s awesome. Everybody has a different story,” said veteran Senators winger Austin Watson, who spent parts of four seasons in the AHL. “It seems of late that the development path has changed a little bit. A lot of guys, due to salary cap and skill level, are playing on their entry-level (deals).
“There’s still those guys that may have been a late-bloomer or just didn’t get that opportunity at a young age to stick with it. This is so good to see a guy like Lucchini and (Rourke) Chartier coming up from the American league. It’s such a good league … you can miss out on a bit of development by not playing there.
“You learn how to grind and how to be a pro. You have to bring your best in this league on a nightly basis and, just from a practice standpoint, you have to be prepared every single day. Guys who have taken a longer path understand that because that’s what’s it taken for them to get here.”
Lucchini is hoping to have his family in Detroit on Saturday afternoon, when the Senators begin a three-game road trip with a contest against the Red Wings. They make their home in Trail, B.C., and couldn’t get to Ottawa in time for Wednesday’s game.
THE LAST WORDS
Ottawa 67’s forward Tyler Boucher, drafted in the first round by the Senators in 2021, told Mike Morreale of NHL.com that he’d return to the ice Friday at the U.S. junior team’s training camp in Ann Arbor, Mich. Boucher lost four teeth after taking a puck in the face Wednesday and wasn’t on the ice Thursday. He’s is in a battle for a roster spot … Defenceman Nick Holden said the Senators needed to continue with the same approach that had brought them success heading into stops in Detroit and Minnesota. “Consistency is probably the biggest thing,” Holden said. “You just need to make sure you’re doing the same thing over and over again. When you do that, you usually get the results that you want. There’s good teams on this trip, and we need to make sure we’re doing the same thing and playing our game.”
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