Melnyk: We want to identify 'real' Senators fans

Eugene Melnyk wants to know who really supports the Ottawa Senators as criticism of him and his hockey club continues to dominate headlines.

The team owner wondered aloud Thursday who the true Senators are when asked how he plans to win back fans who've lost faith in the ownership group.

"The key for us is, first of all, to identify who's a Senators fan and (who's) not," Melnyk said on Sportsnet 590 The FAN.

"We tripped up one of these guys, somebody big, and it turns out it was a 12-year-old in Toronto that was upset with the Senators in general," he added. "I'm a high-profile person that's an easy target, so let them do what they want to do. I basically ignore 99 percent of it."

Melnyk said the organization is trying to turn things around for those who remain patient with the team.

"For our fans, our real fans, we're doing the best we can and all you can do is just keep doing what you've been doing," he said.

The Senators have traded away Erik Karlsson, Mike Hoffman, Mark Stone, Matt Duchene, and Ryan Dzingel within the last six months and have also suffered from various off-ice scandals.