Senators’ comms exec Ian Mendes has laptop stolen ahead of NHL draft

There have been quite a few sports media or communications figures who have been robbed of important technology over the years. The latest is long-time TSN/The Athletic journalist turned Ottawa Senators’ vice-president (communications) Ian Mendes, who had his car window smashed and his laptop stolen while at his daughter’s high school graduation Friday.

Oh, and that just happened to be the first day of the NHL Draft:

Figured I would be emotionally shattered at our daughter’s high school grad today, but didn’t expect this.

Came out from the ceremony to the parking lot to find my back window smashed by a rock.

Work bag and laptop stolen.

And of course this has to happen on draft day… pic.twitter.com/sTFbZNdBV6

— Ian Mendes (@ian_mendes) June 27, 2025

Mendes kept a good sense of humour about this, and went on to reference a piece he co-wrote with Sean “Down Goes Brown” McIndoe at The Athletic in 2021 about a much more dramatic Senators’ draft day laptop experience:

(Insert @DownGoesBrown joke here about things happening to Senators laptops on draft day).

— Ian Mendes (@ian_mendes) June 27, 2025

From that piece, about the Senators’ approach to the 1992 expansion draft:

With the 33rd selection, they tried to draft forward Todd Ewen from the Montreal Canadiens. The Senators, however, didn’t realize that Montreal had already lost the maximum of two players, making Ewen ineligible for selection.

Seven picks later, the Senators made the same mistake again by trying to take Todd Hawkins from the Maple Leafs after Toronto had already lost two players in the draft.

The Senators’ draft prep work was done on a laptop, but when club officials rolled into the ballroom of the Gouverneur Hotel in Montreal on June 18, 1992, they discovered the battery on the computer was dead. They could not find a plug to charge their computer, leaving all of their research stuck on a useless laptop. Bridgman and his team were forced to work off memory and a few pieces of paper, resulting in some chaotic moments.

It seems unlikely that Mendes’ laptop has as crucial of draft information as that one, unless the Senators are far more communicative with their media department than most teams. So there isn’t necessarily anything to fear here on the stolen information/competitive advantage front.

However, this timing is definitely unfortunate for him and the team, and may make his evening draft work harder than it could be otherwise.