from Bruce Garrioch of the Ottawa Sun,

Team owner Eugene Melnyk told Postmedia in an email on Wednesday night he wanted to set the record straight about reports his team had been sold, rumours captain Erik Karlsson is being traded and to respond to comments by former Ottawa centre Kyle Turris.

“I am NOT selling the team — period,” said Melnyk in the email. “My kids (had) first call on the franchise long ago.”

Melnyk, 58, said the source of the talk he’s selling may be the result of a routine refinancing of the team’s debt he’s working on right now.

“Let me set the record straight. I have no idea how a reporter fabricated a fiction about my selling the team,” Melnyk said. “These stories pop up out of nowhere probably from someone ‘hearing something’.

“(The) only thing I can think of is our routine refinancing of our debt involves a financial ‘roadshow’. Virtually every major Canadian, international and American bank have attended one of over 20 presentations in Toronto, Ottawa and New York.

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