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Words from former Senators captain Brady Tkachuk in his featured Prime Video Faceoff:Inside The NHL episode filmed during Ottawa’s run towards the playoffs in 2025.
“For Matthew to get traded, goes to Florida, wins a Stanley Cup. That puts a little expectation on me. Everybody ties what he did, and everybody is expecting me to do the same thing. It’s just two different stories. Matthew went on his path and it worked out for him. My path is chugging along and grinding it out and winning the Stanley Cup for the Ottawa Senators.”
And this, three days after the Senators were eliminated from the playoffs by Carolina, Tkachuk addressed assembled media including Hockey Hot Stove in Ottawa.
“Honestly, I don’t get why it’s a consistent thing, and it’s happened so many times, personally, and it’s frustrating. Like I said it’s frustrating to have to answer to something that has never been spoken out of my mouth, hasn’t been spoken from the team’s mouth, but I just feel like I have to consistently answer to it, and it’s just frustrating. I mean, like I said, I’ve said it, feel like 100 times at this point. I’ve never said it, team never said it,” stated a frustrated Tkachuk.
“I have always believed in this team. I’ve always believed playing for this city, and the city has always been good to me. So it’s just I don’t really know what else other to say than what I’ve said countless times, and they just all these stuff to answer to it. So just all that stuff, it’s just a distraction.”
Tkachuk also added during the same availability when asked about remaining with the Senators long term a full year away from being eligible to sign a contract extension, “The extension talk, it’s a year away. So that’s something that you physically can’t even do anytime soon. So for me, it’s just like I would just talk to Steve (Staios, Senators GM). When we have that conversation, where he views our team, what he thinks we need to improve on and what I need to improve on myself, not just as a player, as in as a captain, and stuff like that. So obviously, I’m excited to hear Steve’s thoughts and what he thinks.”
Well that talk occurred roughly three weeks later at Tkachuk’s offseason New Jersey home. And it didn’t end as expected.
After completing his eighth season as a Senator, five as team captain, including back-to-back postseason appearances, Brady Tkachuk requested a trade.
Senators GM Steve Staios noted, his captain provided a list of four teams, but it essentially came down to one, the Florida Panthers to play alongside his brother, Matthew.
Staios made the best of a tenuous situation, acquiring the 9th overall selection in the 2026 Entry Draft, 25th overall, 2027 second round pick plus a 2029 conditional first-rounder. The Senators GM flipped the no. 9 pick to San Jose in exchange for forward William Eklund, using the 25th pick to select highly-touted Jonas Lagerberg-Hoen from Sweden.
Fast forward four months, Brady Tkachuk makes his return to Ottawa for the first time in a Florida Panthers uniform Wednesday evening.
How the Senators fans react to their captain who requested a move out of Ottawa remains to be seen. Reaction will likely be mixed to say the least.
On one hand, there’s a player returning to a city where he was heavily involved in the community. On the other, there’s a player who wanted to leave two seasons prior to the expiration of his contract.
What we can predict is the Canadian Tire Centre crowd will definitely be a raucous one.
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