{"id":201309,"date":"2026-09-09T00:38:33","date_gmt":"2026-09-09T00:38:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/201309\/"},"modified":"2026-09-09T00:38:33","modified_gmt":"2026-09-09T00:38:33","slug":"ex-sens-captain-brady-tkachuk-reflects-on-ottawa-exit-citing-difficulty-of-asking-for-trade","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/201309\/","title":{"rendered":"Ex-Sens captain Brady Tkachuk reflects on Ottawa exit, citing difficulty of asking for trade"},"content":{"rendered":"

Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n

Brady Tkachuk heads off the ice after fighting with Carolina Hurricanes defenceman K’andre Miller, not shown, in Ottawa during their first-round playoff series this spring.Justin Tang\/The Canadian Press<\/p>\n

Brady Tkachuk could not have been more emphatic. He also seemed slightly annoyed.<\/p>\n

The Ottawa Senators had just been swept in the first round of the NHL playoffs. Their captain was still processing the bitter disappointment. <\/p>\n

Tkachuk was also clear when he was again asked \u2013 the rumblings were nothing new \u2013 about his long-term future in the nation\u2019s capital despite the two seasons remaining on his contract.<\/p>\n

\u201cI feel like I\u2019ve answered this hundreds of times,\u201d he said in late April. \u201cNone of those things ever came out of my mouth. Quite honestly, it\u2019s just getting frustrating. It\u2019s becoming a distraction. I have been fully committed to this team, to this city, and it\u2019s just become a distraction and frustrating to deal with.\u201d<\/p>\n

Less than two months later, Tkachuk was shaking hands with Florida general manager Bill Zito in Fort Lauderdale as the newest member of the Panthers.<\/p>\n

Tkachuk had quietly indicated to the Senators following that four-game dusting by the Carolina Hurricanes \u2013 a relentless outfit that would go onto win the franchise\u2019s second Stanley Cup \u2013 he would like to be traded and didn\u2019t plan on re-signing with the organization that selected him No. 4 overall at the 2018 draft.<\/p>\n

So what changed between the time of that forceful Ottawa declaration and the subsequent request to move on?<\/p>\n

Senators fans didn\u2019t get many answers from Tkachuk\u2019s first public, in-depth conversation about events when he sat down with a small group of reporters Tuesday at the annual NHL\/NHLPA player media tour inside a cavernous luxury hotel complex just off Sin City\u2019s famed strip.<\/p>\n

He began by stating there\u2019s \u201cinformation and narratives out there that aren\u2019t completely true.\u201d <\/p>\n

Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n

Florida Panthers general manager Bill Zito, left, and Brady Tkachuk display his jersey as a new member of the team, in June in Fort Lauderdale.Marta Lavandier\/The Associated Press<\/p>\n

\u201cA lot of time, a lot of reflection, and it wasn\u2019t an easy decision,\u201d Tkachuk continued. \u201cIt was a really, really hard decision, and something that was emotional. It took a lot of time to get to that.\u201d<\/p>\n

The 26-year-old, who will join older brother Matthew in Florida after the pair helped the United States beat Canada for gold at the 2026 Milan Cortina Winter Olympics, thanked Senators owner Michael Andlauer and general manager Steve Staios for keeping things quiet following his trade ask.<\/p>\n

That also meant his teammates were in the dark until shortly before the news dropped.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was a small group of people that knew,\u201d Tkachuk said. \u201cBut I made some phone calls after. There\u2019s some guys that I spent eight years with \u2026 through a lot of tough times. And I think through those tough times, through the adversity, you just get so close that they\u2019re not just teammates \u2013 they\u2019re family. <\/p>\n

\u201cI had conversations with a couple guys.\u201d<\/p>\n

That family, however, was bruised by its emotional leader packing up and heading out of town after a glacial rebuild that finally resulted in post-season appearances the last two springs.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou want guys want to be here,\u201d Senators defenceman Thomas Chabot told reporters in Ottawa at the team\u2019s golf tournament. \u201cYou want guys to want to be part of this team and city \u2026 I\u2019d be lying to say I was happy when he decided to leave.\u201d<\/p>\n

Fellow blueliner Jake Sanderson, who sat down with reporters right after Tkachuk exited the other end of the room, said the pair remain close friends despite the stunning departure that resulted in draft capital coming back the other way.<\/p>\n

\u201cSteve Staios just called me,\u201d he said. \u201cThat was the first that I heard of it. It was actually the day I got engaged, so it was a really weird day, for sure \u2013 a lot of emotions. It was tough.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sanderson, who was also on the U.S. Olympic team, said it\u2019s not a surprise Tkachuk wanted to play with brother Matthew.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t blame him for that,\u201d Sanderson said. \u201cBut absolutely I think we\u2019re a team that\u2019s getting a lot better and has a window here to win a Stanley Cup. That part of it is tough.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Senators and their fans won\u2019t have to wait long to see Tkachuk, who has two seasons remaining on a contract carrying a US$8.22-million average annual value originally signed in October 2021, in opposition colours.<\/p>\n

Ranked fifth in Ottawa franchise history with 463 points and 10th with 572 games played, the 6-foot-4, 226-pound winger and the Panthers \u2013 Cup winners in 2024 and 2025 \u2013 will visit his old stomping grounds Oct. 21.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t really have an expectation,\u201d Tkachuk said of the crowd reaction. \u201cWhatever it is, it just shows how great of a fan base it is. If it\u2019s negative, it just shows how passionate the fans are, and how I enjoyed playing in front of them and how special it was. If it\u2019s positive, I\u2019m just really grateful for my time there.\u201d <\/p>\n

One thing is almost certain \u2013 emotions will be running high on and off the ice.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt wasn\u2019t an easy decision,\u201d Tkachuk said of pulling up stakes and heading south. \u201cIt was really hard \u2026 there\u2019s a lot of people there in Ottawa that I love so much.<\/p>\n

\u201cLike they\u2019re my own family.\u201d <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Open this photo in gallery: Brady Tkachuk heads off the ice after fighting with Carolina Hurricanes defenceman K’andre…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":201310,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[164,224,238,214,212,239,17,211,230,231,227,213,210,235,171,234,143,222,249,215,216,229,225,226,219,240,220,244,245,247,242,246,94,61,243,217,142,233,113,232,241,223,236,237,228,221,218,248],"class_list":["post-201309","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ottawa","tag-alberta","tag-arts-news","tag-bc","tag-breaking-news","tag-breaking-news-video","tag-british-columbia","tag-canada","tag-canada-news","tag-canada-sports","tag-canada-sports-news","tag-canada-trafficcanada-weather","tag-canadian-breaking-news","tag-canadian-news","tag-economy","tag-education","tag-environment","tag-federal-government","tag-foreign-news","tag-globe-and-mail","tag-globe-and-mail-breaking-news","tag-globe-and-mail-canada-news","tag-government","tag-life-news","tag-lifestyle","tag-local-news","tag-manitoba","tag-national-news","tag-new-brunswick","tag-newfoundland-and-labrador","tag-northwest-territories","tag-nova-scotia","tag-nunavut","tag-ontario","tag-ottawa","tag-pei","tag-photos","tag-political-news","tag-political-opinion","tag-politics","tag-politics-news","tag-quebec","tag-sports-news","tag-technology","tag-travel","tag-trudeau","tag-us-news","tag-world-news","tag-yukon"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/201309","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=201309"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/201309\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/201310"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=201309"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=201309"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=201309"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}