Senators' $1.1 billion-worth owner makes thoughts extremely clear about possibly relocating to Quebec City amid new arena hurdles

Ottawa Senators owner Michael Andlauer has shared his thoughts on the franchise's future.

The Senators announced that they will play preseason games in Quebec City in September against the Devils and Canadiens. That has fueled speculation that the team could eventually move to Quebec if hurdles remain in building a new downtown Ottawa arena.

However, Andlauer, who has a net worth of $1.1 billion net worth (as per Forbes), firmly rejected the idea of relocation.

"No, because for me, I love Ottawa-Gatineau," Andlauer said per ottawacitizen.com.

"I love our supporters. Despite the fact that we are 20 minutes from downtown in Kanata, we can continue to make it work, but it would be better to be downtown."

Andlauer said that his preference is to remain in the Ottawa area, but the arena process with the National Capital Commission has been difficult.

"There were terms in our agreement that talked about fair market value, which I'm totally for and that's what I want - what's fair," he said. "Let's just hope the NCC doesn't change the rules at the last second."

Despite the challenges, Andlauer remains optimistic about the team's future in the nation's capital.

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Senators owner Michael Andlauer advocates for NHL team in Quebec City

Ottawa Senators owner Michael Andlauer has expressed his belief that Quebec City deserves to have an NHL team once again. However, he made it clear that the Senators won't be the franchise to relocate to Quebec.

"Quebec deserves, in my opinion, an NHL team, but that will not be on my file," Andlauer said.

"In the future, I hope we can play a few regular-season games in Quebec City. If we can play in Sweden, we should be able to play in Quebec City. That's a decision the NHL must make."

Andlauer also suggested that the team could potentially play a few regular-season games in Quebec City in the future.

“We’ll start with the two pre-season games, and we’ll go from there,” Andlauer said.“For me, that’s the vision (playing regular-season games)."

The city last hosted an NHL regular-season game in 1995, before the Quebec Nordiques had moved to Denver. More recently, the Videotron Centre showed that it can attract big crowds, with a sold-out PWHL game between the Montreal Victoire and Ottawa Charge on Jan. 19.