Not long before the news was public, the Senators' players received an email regarding the health of owner Eugene Melnyk.
They knew there was something wrong but were afraid to ask. After all, the Ottawa owner was nowhere to be seen during the club's dramatic run to the post-season and that's not like him, at all.
"It is 100% (shocking)," said alternate captain Chris Phillips in a telephone interview Thursday. "I guess we knew something was going on just because with the lack (of his) presence during the playoff run. That presence, that you normally see and hear of, was absent.