Senators: Good response by liver donors for owner Melnyk

More than 400 people had offered Friday to give part of their liver to Ottawa Senators owner Eugene Melnyk, a day after his family and the team made a public appeal.

The 55-year-old Melnyk was admitted to a hospital three weeks ago because of liver-related complications. He's in critical condition.

Dr. Gary Levy, director of the living donor liver transplant program at Toronto's University Health Network, said the response has been so overwhelming the transplant team hopes to have a donor match for Melnyk within 72 to 96 hours.

''There are a lot of very generous people out there,'' Levy said.

In a statement Friday, the team said more than 1,000 calls have been received and many applications were sent to the donor transplant team in Toronto.

His family had reached out to close friends and relatives with the hope of finding a suitable donor candidate, but with no success. A living donor transplant is Melnyk's best option because he has rare AB blood.

Melnyk has been sick since mid-January, the team said. He's been absent from the Senators' surprising playoff run.