The Ottawa Senators have improved rapidly in recent years, and after back-to-back appearances in the Stanley Cup Playoffs, the team were hoping to use this off-season as a way to upgrade moving forward.
Whether or not they upgraded, only time will tell, but there certainly were changes, with the biggest of all being the trade of long-time captain Brady Tkachuk, who joins his brother Matthew with the Florida Panthers following the blockbuster deal. For many, this process began after he won a Gold Medal with Team USA at the 2026 Olympic Games, but according to general manager Steve Staios, it’s been trending that way for much, much longer.
Brady Tkachuk Deal was a Long-Time Coming
GettyBrady Tkachuk of the Ottawa Senators.
After Tkachuk’s embarrassing performance in the 2026 Stanley Cup Playoffs, it was all but a guarantee that he would be traded at some point this off-season, and finally it happened, with the team accepting an offer of mostly draft capital to deal him to the Eastern Conference rival Florida Panthers.
Since the trade, reports have revealed that there was a major rift in the locker room involving Tkachuk following that tournament, but now, GM Steve Staios has addressed the situation, instead revealing that he’s known for ‘a year and a half’ that this is where it was all leading.
“It became fairly clear to me as we were going through this that, over probably the last year and a half, where it seemed to me that it was moving in that direction,” Staios said.
At one point in time, it looked like the Senators could be trying to lock Tkachuk in on a long-term deal, but with the hard feelings that came up as he returned to Ottawa following the Olympics and then his no-show in the post-season, it became clear that it would be best for all sides to simply move on.
How Will the Senators Look Without Brady Tkachuk?
Thankfully for Ottawa, the team used pieces of the Tkachuk trade to upgrade in a big way, adding William Eklund for the No. 9 overall pick while also signing Andre Burakovsky, and right now, the lineup looks as balanced as ever.
However, with the Panthers, Toronto Maple Leafs and other teams in the East improving over the summer as well, it’s going to be an absolute bloodbath in 2026/27, but with the Senators finding a balance and depth to their lineup since the former captains departure, there’s a chance this team could be right back in the post-season next year.
Only time will tell if the trade of Tkachuk was the right move to make for Ottawa, but given all of the noise surrounding their former captain, it was clearly the best move from a locker room perspective, and given that things have been trending this way for over a year, it made sense for this team to make the move when they did, with their hopes still being high for the 2026/27 campaign.
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