The majority of business people who dream of owning a sports team have made their fortune in a field that has nothing to do with sports. Future Ottawa Senators owner Michael Andlauer falls into this category. Portrait of a Frenchman and an ex-Montrealer who grew up admiring the Canadian of the golden years and Guy Lafleur.
I met Michael Andlauer for the first time in May 2007, when he owned the Hamilton Bulldogs, the Canadiens’ farm club at the time. That season, the Bulldogs had their regular season ups and downs finishing third in the North Division and 11e echelon in the overall American League standings with 95 points.
Coach Don Lever managed several players who then continued on with the Canadiens and other National League teams. We found in particular Maxim Lapierre, Ryan O’Byrne, Jean-Philippe Côté, Kyle Chipchura, Mikhail Grabovski, without forgetting the indomitable Kostitsyn brothers.
But in the playoffs, a young goaltender fresh from the junior ranks named Carey Price did wonders to lead the Bulldogs to the conquest of the Calder Cup.
Give back to the community
If the Bulldogs did well on the ice that spring, it was something else at the box office. It is that in Hamilton, hockey fans did not vibrate blue-white-red. The Habs branch was located in the home of the Toronto Maple Leafs, with the Queen City less than 70 kilometers away.
The Bulldogs played at Copps Coliseum, a vast amphitheater containing more than 17,000 seats opened in 1985 with the aim of bringing an NHL franchise there. Large black draperies hid the upper tiers to give a more intimate character to the enclosure.
The number of available seats was 8,900, but again, that was way above the crowds the Bulldogs were able to attract. Attendance fluctuated between 2000 and 3000 spectators only.
But for Andlauer, it was nonetheless an opportunity to give back to the community. His entrepreneurial profile made him a well-known and respected man in the region, which is still the case.
In 1991, he founded a trucking company known today as ATS Healthcare. His company specializes in the distribution of pharmaceutical products. Among other things, it distributed the COVID-19 vaccine in several regions of Canada.
The company’s shares are worth more than $44 on the stock market, with Andlauer’s fortune valued at $1.1 billion.
Not too bad for an autodidact.
Inspiring journey
His journey resembles that of many successful business people from scratch. Andlauer didn’t go to college for long. He dropped out of business administration at York University to find work. He quickly became operations manager for McCain’s frozen fries delivery truck fleet.
His successes have not gone to his head. It displays a beautiful simplicity. He’s friendly and approachable, but he doesn’t seek reflectors.
Married and father of three children, his family life occupies an important place in his life.
Born in Toulouse, in the Pyrenees, Andlauer, whose name is of Alsatian origin, was 2 years old when his family crossed the Atlantic in 1968 to settle in the Montreal district of Notre-Dame-de-Grâce. In the years that followed, he got to know the Canadiens and learned to play hockey.
In 1976, the family moved to Ontario, but Andlauer remained loyal to his team of choice. When his mother gave him a Canadiens jersey, he wrote the number 10 on the back with tape. Like young people of his age, he was Guy Lafleur.
At the Forum’s memorabilia auction in 1996, Andlauer bought a net and the commemorative banner of the 13e Canadian Stanley Cup winner in 1964-65. This collector’s item occupies a prominent place in the television room of the family residence.
It was in 2009 that he became a minority shareholder of the Canadian when the group headed by Geoff Molson bought the team of American George Gillett. His shares estimated at nearly 20% according to some sources should bring him a nice loot considering the value of the Canadian, which is valued at $ 1.2 billion.
Still things to tie up
Andlauer has big ambitions for the Senators. He intends to carry out the project of building a new home for the team on LeBreton Flats.
Its group of investors includes Paul Malhotra, founder of real estate development company Claridge Homes, headquartered in Ottawa; Jeff York, former CEO of the Farm Boy food chain; as well as Paul and Michel Paletta, co-owners of Alinea Group, which also does real estate development in the Burlington region of Ontario, where Andlauer resides.
The two daughters of the late Eugene Melnyk retain their side 10% of the shares of the Senators.
However, do not expect the sale to be endorsed by the governors of the NHL at their next meeting scheduled for next Thursday. As the file is not yet finalized, the owners will be called upon to vote later in the summer.
This will give Andlauer time to see how he will store his memories of the Canadiens.