With a short, blunt press release, the Senators confirmed today what the media began to report over a week ago.
If you've ever worked in an office or a big company, you've seen the memo dozens of times before – the one from the boss that announces someone is no longer with the company.
If the person left on good terms, it's a long, proud description of their contributions to the company, along with flowery best wishes for the future. The memo is often so long that most fellow employees don't even make it to the end.
On the other hand, when the person leaves on bad terms, the memo reads almost exactly like the terse press release the Senators put out today, confirming Assistant GM Trent Mann is out.
That's a lot of emotion for one press release. Feel free to take a moment to compose yourself and dab your tears.
After Troy Mann was fired as head coach in Belleville five months ago, amidst unusual media reports alluding to trust issues and the sharing of information, there were concerns about how this would play with his brother Trent in Ottawa. Trent reportedly found out about the plan to fire his brother after it went down.
In case there were any doubt, today's drive-by news release all but confirms there's absolutely no love lost there. The only lingering question is who made the final call for Mann to be on his way.
"We're thankful for Trent's contributions to the Senators and wish him the best going forward," GM Pierre Dorion said in the club statement.
As we've discussed before in this space, there's a new owner on the way. Changes should be expected. And more are definitely on the way. But news releases are supposed to answer questions, not create them.
The very late confirmation of a Postmedia report that's over a week old, along with the total absence of sentiment in the news release do nothing but leave Sens fans guessing and speculating.