Eugene Melnyk will use $8 million of his purchase price of the Ottawa Senators to honour current and deferred contracts for players, coaches, management and staff, including Alexei Yashin.

According to court documents, the billionaire chief executive of drug giant Biovail is also profiting from the Sens' playoff off run even though his acquisition of the team remains conditional upon closing a deal for the Corel Centre.

Court documents reveal Melnyk has pocketed $600,000 in net proceeds from each home game in the Senators' series against the Philadelphia Flyers and New Jersey Devils.

Players, coaches, managers and staff owed money under current and deferred contracts rank as unsecured creditors and are owed $12.6 million as a group. The unsecured status means they cannot claim any of the money owed them during the team's restructuring under court-ordered creditor protection. They must depend on the goodwill of the person holding the purse – Melnyk.

The court documents do not specify which contracts Melnyk will not honour. Yashin is the only former player mentioned by name. He is owed an estimated US$2.36 million.

Current played owed money include Mike Fisher, Magnus Arvedson, Curtis Leschyshyn and Daniel Alfredsson. Wade Redden and Shane Hnidy also have employee benefit plan deals.

Melnyk will also honour a retirement deal for team president Roy Mlakar and a pension contribution agreement for head coach Jacques Martin.