Plague of Greed: At Least Six NHL Teams Aren't Paying Arena Employees During Coronavirus Shutdown

The Ottawa Senators’ Eugene Melnyk isn’t paying his arena employees, but that’s to be expected from the worst owner in North American sports.

While most NHL teams have stepped up, there are a few owners who have been silent on the subject. Buffalo Sabres owner Kim Pegula has said the team would pay KeyBank Center employees if games were cancelled, which sounds good but technically, NHL games have only been postponed. With the league holding out hope of resuming the schedule, that means workers who would have had five game days in Buffalo will have to wait weeks to get paid.

Boston Bruins forward Brad Marchand shared a link to a GoFundMe aimed at assisting TD Garden employees. Presumably, the B’s star won’t be licking strangers’ faces during these troubling times, either. But the Bruins owner, Jeremy Jacobs, with an estimated net worth of $3.5B, isn’t contributing. A similar situation had existed in Calgary, with players setting up a GoFundMe while owners of the Flames remained silent. Late Sunday afternoon, Calgary ownership reversed course and announced a compensation program for its part-time workers.

Other NHL teams who haven’t made a commitment to paying arena employers are the defending Stanley Cup Champions St. Louis Blues; Minnesota Wild; and Vegas Golden Knights.