Around they swirl, the Brady Tkachuk rumours, like a relentless trade wind off a southern peninsula.
Truth or trash, this talk?
I can guarantee this much. The captain of the Ottawa Senators will never again know a season quite like this one.
It started ominously, with a fractured hand/thumb in Ottawa’s home opener. Sidelined until late November, he returned, understandably, without some of that physical swagger that has made Tkachuk one of hockey’s so-called “unicorn” players — a power forward with hands that can score and punch.
A type of malaise persisted, although the points came, roughly one per game.
At times, he seemed indifferent. Distracted? In the runup to the February Olympics, the tiniest Tkachuk nuance seemed to rub fans here the wrong way. Such as his Senators team sitting outside a playoff position while Tkachuk showed up at practice wearing his USA Olympic pants.
And then — Olympic gold!
The Tkachuk family glory was Canada’s pain. As we agonized over the open net missed by Nate MacKinnon, the Tkachuk brothers, Matthew and Brady, cavorted with U.S. president Donald Trump and puffed out their chests on their brotherly podcast.
None of this played well in Ottawa, but so long as Tkachuk could return to his game and help lift the Sens into the playoffs, all would be forgiven.
They played — hard — down the stretch. And if Brady still didn’t quite seem like his old self, the Senators were given every chance to upset the Carolina Hurricanes in the opening round. Many pundits picked Ottawa because of its stellar play down the stretch. Playoff-type hockey, closing down teams, scoring plenty of goals and finally getting quality goaltending from Linus Ullmark.
They were all set up... for a big fall. A four-game sweep by an experienced, well-coached Canes team that hog-tied the Senators like a big brother toying with junior. Though the scores were close, the sense was that Carolina could step up at will to fend off a frustrated Senators offence.
You know about the missed opportunities in that double OT of Game 2, but when Ottawa returned home and kept soiling the bed with power play bobbles, Brady and his PP unit were booed off the ice at a packed Canadian Tire Centre.
And yet in Game 4, when Tkachuk was laying the body on the Hurricanes in a raucous finale, he heard those familiar “Bra-dy!! Bra-dy!!” chants. In the stands, a ton of fans wore No. 7 jerseys.
It ended as quickly as it began, with Ottawa scoring a measly five goals in four games, from just two players — Drake Batherson and Dylan Cozens. Tkachuk and fellow star forward Tim Stützle finished without a goal. Stützle had one assist.
At times, Tkachuk looked lost on the power-play unit. His errant pass at the blueline — closer to an official than any Ottawa player — bounced off the boards and out of the zone and became a meme for a power play that finished one-for-21 in the series.
At 26, Tkachuk was expected to pick up from last year’s six-game loss to the Maple Leafs and lead Ottawa to something more significant. Instead, they met their worst nightmare, life in the eye of the Hurricanes.
How different might it be assessing the play of Tkachuk and Stützle if they’d faced Buffalo or Montreal in Round 1 and had some room to breathe, score, feel more confident in their play?
Talking post-game on Saturday about the crush of missing out on a Stanley Cup run, Tkachuk fought back tears. He could barely speak, mumbling inaudibly. No one doubted the big man cared.
On the post-game call-in show, plenty of emotional Sens fans wanted Tkachuk traded – but they were ready to deal half the team at this point.
Wounds still fresh on Monday, media and fans wanted to hear from the captain himself on garbage bag day — about the team’s future, but mainly his own. Brady Tkachuk had the best excuse in the world not to be there. His wife, Emma, gave birth to the couple’s second child.
To summarize his season, then: Broken hand, tough return, Olympic gold, playoff push, playoff disaster, new baby born as soon as the Sens get swept. Was it any wonder Tkachuk seemed distracted at times?
All of this pseudo-drama is tinder fuel to the endless chatter that Tkachuk wants out of Ottawa. Or, that the feeling might be mutual.
“Nonsense!” said Senators general manager Steve Staios, when asked about the Tkachuk rumours.
Not even worth talking about, he added.
It would be nice to think Staios could put an end to it so easily. He can’t.
The online hot stove lounges see the Brady Tkachuk saga as fresh red meat.
American captain of a Canadian-based team just swept. The face of the franchise wearing the defeat (Hello, Auston Matthews). Surely dreams of playing alongside his brother one day. (Keep in mind that Matthew, on their podcast, once referred to Brady as an Ottawa “lifer”).
“NO CHANCE” Brady starts next season in Ottawa, barked Paul Bissonnette, better known as BizNasty to his followers on X.
That’s a strong position considering Tkachuk has two years left on his contract.
When has that ever stopped anyone from talking about Tkachuk playing in Florida, St. Louis or some other U.S. destination?
A year ago at this time, Tkachuk was asked about his future in Ottawa. Remember?
The New York Rangers had planted a seed that they’d love to trade for Tkachuk, a move that incensed Senators owner Michael Andlauer last season, accusing the Rangers of soft tampering.
“I want to play here, I want to be here,” Tkachuk said at his year-end session last May.
“Obviously, it’s a lie – all those articles, stories, just not true.”
Now, what?
Does Tkachuk have to say that all over again?
You bet he does. And even that will only go so far.
Until Tkachuk and the Senators sign an extension, and he's not eligible until July 2027, the Tkachuk-is-moving chatter will persist.
Tkachuk talk was bound to be a thing in the summer of 2027.
It just moved up to the summer of 2026.
