Cheered or jeered, Brady Tkachuk is ready for his Ottawa return
LAS VEGAS – Gee, what should we talk about?
A tip of the cap to new Florida Panthers left winger Brady Tkachuk for dispensing with the small talk pretty much the moment he sat down with a small group of reporters Tuesday morning at the start of the 2026-27 NHL Player Media Tour. No need to waste time on what he did for summer vacation. There was simply too much to discuss. Heck, his now-former teammate, Ottawa Senators defenseman Jake Sanderson, was due up next to be interviewed. The two of them, still close friends, already had breakfast that morning.
And there were surely residual feelings to be processed between them. We’re not yet three months removed from the Father’s Day bombshell, the trade that ended Tkachuk’s captaincy in Canada’s capital, validated all the conspiracy theorists and sent him to the Eastern Conference’s Evil Empire, the wily Panthers, where he’d be united with his brother Matthew.
The deal came mere weeks after Tkachuk had publicly affirmed his commitment to the Senators following their first-round elimination from the 2026 Stanley Cup playoffs, determined to squash the idea that he and his brother had enjoyed playing together with Team USA so much at the 2025 4 Nations Face-Off and 2026 Olympics that the toothpaste couldn’t go back in the tube. In the end, his words at the time proved rather weightless, as he wound up a Panther anyway.
Tuesday offered Brady the first opportunity in a while to publicly reflect on how the trade played out, edit some of the timelines theorized by fans and express gratitude toward his now-former city.
First off: the USA Manifest Destiny theory. Did Brady really pre-punch his ticket out of Ottawa while soaking in the glory of USA’s Olympic gold medal? Following Quinn Hughes’ exit from the Vancouver Canucks and the still-pending request made by Dylan Larkin? Before Connor Hellebuyck made one of his own? No, Brady said Tuesday.
“We never discussed our individual situations or individual teams,” Tkachuk said. “When we went to Team USA, it was just a great group of guys – a special group – and there was never any talk about our respective teams and our cities. It was just that when we got to USA, it was all about USA. I’ve seen a lot of that stuff on social media. The group chat had nothing to do with the trade. It was more thanking ‘Helly’ for that performance he had.”
As for when Tkachuk knew his time with the Senators was coming to a close: it was more a feeling that seeped in the days and weeks after his end-of-season comments.
“I think there’s also a lot of narratives and information out there that aren’t completely true,” he said. “But just a lot of time, a lot of reflection. And it wasn’t an easy decision. It was a really hard decision and something that was emotional. It took a lot of time to get to that. For me now, the decision is made and there’s a lot to be excited about in Florida with the team that we had.”
The opportunity to play with his brother was too great to pass up, naturally, but it wasn’t the only reason the Panthers appealed to Brady. They’re a team full of leaders and Stanley Cup winners – yet so focused winning another that they barely seem to talk about their 2023 and 2024 championships these days, Brady says. And it’s not like there’s even a guarantee that he’ll be playing with Matthew right away, either. Preliminary post-trade comments from head coach Paul Maurice seemed to indicate that the brothers may start on separate trios, perhaps with Brady manning the left wing on a line with Aleksander Barkov and Sam Reinhart, with Matthew playing right wing on a line with Carter Verhaeghe and Sam Bennett.
“You know what? I’m just going to do what I’m told to do,” Brady said. “Whatever coach thinks is the right decision, what’s best for the team, that’s what I know everybody is committed on doing. I know we’ve had success – 4 Nations, the Olympics. But I think that’s what says a lot about our team, and what excites me is just the depth that anybody can play with anybody. And basically everybody on the team is a hell of a player. So I’d be lucky to play with anybody.”
The excitement between the brothers is palpable. Not that it won’t be emotional to begin life as an NHLer without the Senators. The bonds Brady forged won’t disappear overnight, and the conversations after trade – which was kept a tight secret while developing – weren’t easy.
“I think when you’re in that process, you obviously don’t want, both sides, the team and ourselves, for it to get out and become a thing on social media, and I appreciate [Senators owner Michael] Andlauer and [GM Steve Staios] for keeping it so confidential. There was a small group of people that knew that the process was going on, so there weren’t many discussions before with guys. But I made some phone calls after. There’s some guys that I spent eight years with, through a lot of tough times, and I think through those tough times, through the adversity, you just get so close that they’re not just teammates, they’re family.”
The news of the trade hit Sanderson hard and made for mixed emotions because, as he told reporters in Vegas Tuesday, he got engaged the day he found out about it. He’ll take it upon himself to be one of the veterans filling the leadership void in Ottawa, but Tkachuk’s personality, a voice Sanderson calls “the biggest on our team,” won’t be easy to replace.
That said: it doesn’t seem like there are hard feelings, at least not between Sanderson and his close friend.
“That was two months ago now. For me, I’ve moved on,” Sanderson said. “It doesn’t affect our relationship, me and Brady. It’s tough for sure. You’re all in it together, showing up to the rink every day grinding. Yeah, it was tough.
“The way I look at it, I’m not surprised that Brady would want to go play with his brother. I don’t think anybody should be surprised, so I don’t blame him for that. But absolutely I think we’re a team that’s getting a lot better and has a window here to win a Stanley Cup. That part of it is tough, for sure.”
And while Sanderson and perhaps other Senators teammates won’t hold grudges, at least not until they’re on the ice as Atlantic Division rivals this season, the same probably can’t be said about the Senators’ fan base. They’d ended a seven-season playoff drought and delivered consecutive competitive seasons only for their captain to pull the rug. It hurts, no matter how much replacement left winger William Eklund, acquired from the San Jose Sharks this offseason, ends up helping. This is the same fan base that booed the American national anthem after the 4 Nations Face-Off knowing their captain was a Yankee, watching him shake his head in disapproval. There will likely be a mix of jeers and cheers when the Panthers visit the Senators at Canadian Tire Centre Oct. 21– just as we saw when Mitch Marner returned to play the Toronto Maple Leafs for the first time last season.
Whatever the reaction is, Tkachuk seems at peace with it.
“I don’t really have an expectation,” he said. “I’m just gonna be excited to get back there. I know how special that place is to me, and it’d be nice to see a lot of people I met in the community, my teammates, all the staff, just be able to see them. It’s nice that it’s early on in the season, but there’s a lot of important games leading up to that.
“Whatever [the reaction] is, it just shows how great of a fan base it is. If it’s negative, it just shows how passionate the fans are and i enjoyed playing in front of them and how special it was. And if it’s positive, then I’m just really grateful for my time there. I’m not sure what to expect. I’m just excited to go back there and see a lot of people that I care about.”
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