Brady Tkachuk trade shows that Panthers aren’t done being aggressive

The Florida Panthers and Ottawa Senators made an Earth-shattering trade on Sunday, with Ottawa sending their five-year captain Brady Tkachuk to the Sunshine State in exchange for four draft picks, three of which being first rounders.

The move signalled to the rest of the NHL that the Panthers and general manager Bill Zito are not yet done making moves. Despite missing the playoffs in 2025-26, Florida will go into next season with a healthy lineup that’s looking to return to the Stanley Cup success they found in 2024 and 2025.

Read more: Grading the Brady Tkachuk trade: Sens lose captain to Florida, gain valuable retooling capital

On Monday’s episode of Daily Faceoff LIVE, Tyler Yaremchuk and former NHL goaltender Carter Hutton discuss the Tkachuk trade and what the future holds for the Sunshine State.

Tyler Yaremchuk: You can hate on players loading up and doing this sort of thing, but at the end of the day, Florida is not afraid. GM Bill Zito does not sit with his bat on his shoulder. When you have a core like the Panthers have, and one that’s as young as they are…

Their GM looked at this circumstance, figured he would go get Brady Tkachuk, knew he wouldn’t have an issue re-signing him, and that this group can compete for the next decade.

Carter Hutton: I think that’s a factor here. Again, the only real contract you’re worried about is Brady Tkachuk, but outside of Eetu Luostarinen, who is 27 and will be a free agent at the end of 2027-28. I know Anton Lundell’s name was talked about in this trade with Ottawa, but the Panthers said no.

You look at Florida’s top-nine Florida group, and I don’t think we’ve seen a top-9 as deep or as structured as this one. They obviously are going to find a goalie, and I think there’s a big factor here: As we look at guys who want to win, you might take less to play with Florida. Less term, less money, there’s a lot of sex appeal to play in a market where you could have a career year.

You can watch the full segment and the rest of the episode here…