Ottawa Senators owner Eugene Melnyk met with NHL commissioner Gary Bettman on Monday to reveal the results of his “forensic investigation,” according to the Ottawa Sun.
Melynk was reportedly accompanied by Senators GM Bryan Murray for the presentation in New York. Details of the meeting were not disclosed.
The Senators owner has been working with a group of forensic doctors for nearly a year to determine whether former Pittsburgh Penguins winger Matt Cooke intentionally sliced Sens defeceman Erik Karlsson’s Achilles’ tendon.
“I’m going to prove whether it was intentional or not. I think it was intentional but you’re going to have to prove it,” Melynk told Prime Time Sports last March. “The force that that skate had to go in through the sock, a sub-sock, then through skin, muscle, sheath and then to get to your tendon, man, either this guy is really good or very lucky.”
The 2012 Norris Trophy winner suffered a lacerated Achilles’ tendon in a game last February after going into the boards with Cooke, whose skate blade came down on Karlsson’s leg. The Senators defenceman was expected to miss the rest of the season but surprisingly returned to the lineup 10 weeks after the incident.
Melnyk has seldom discussed the investigation since its launch last March out of fear he would be hit with a $100,000 fine from the NHL.
“I’ll bring it to (Brendan) Shanahan and Gary (Bettman) and at that point they can decide whether it’s something they want to bring out publicly if I’m right, and if I’m wrong I’m wrong,” Melynk said last March. “You have to come back with professional evidence by doctors.”
