Brady Tkachuk’s exit from Ottawa may have been a trade on paper, but the reporting around it now points to something far more personal inside the Senators’ room.
According to Elliotte Friedman, the tension built after this year’s Winter Olympics, when players across the league were already drained. In Ottawa, Tkachuk was viewed by some as a player who had checked out on the Senators while putting his energy into Team USA.
At the same time, he and his brother Matthew had launched the podcast Wingmen, and that show was creating its own friction. Some of the comments on it involved Senators goaltender Linus Ullmark and Tkachuk’s Team USA teammates.
Friedman said he was contacted directly by a player about the issue, and he singled out the podcast as one thing that “caused some problems”.
Bruce Garrioch’s reporting adds another layer to the story. He says Tkachuk had been telling teammates for years that he had no plan to re-sign in Ottawa, and that message had reportedly been repeated in the dressing room for four straight seasons before the trade became public.
The podcast itself became a symbol of where Tkachuk’s attention seemed to be. Instead of being seen as fully locked into Ottawa’s rebuild, he was building a public brand with Matthew. One clip that has circulated again shows Keith Tkachuk criticizing the Senators’ coaching staff and teammates on the show while Brady sits quietly beside him.
Brady later said his father was an opinionated guy and wouldn’t apologize for him. He also tried to steer the conversation away from the Senators, saying the comments weren’t about the team.
Inside the room, the show’s content appears to have landed badly. One episode in particular, in which the Tkachuks criticized Toronto players for not publicly supporting Auston Matthews, is being viewed as an especially awkward moment.
That came before the next stretch of Brady’s time in Ottawa, when he got into a few fights at the start of games in an effort to show he was willing to lift his team. Even then, when it came time to defend teammates in a more meaningful way, questions about his motives lingered.
There’s also a broader question hanging over the whole thing: whether the Senators were too willing to let an active player run with a podcast like this in the first place. Some have wondered if the organization allowed it to keep Brady happy. Instead of drawing a line, they let him put himself in position to say something controversial.
And if teammates really knew for years that their captain didn’t see a future in Ottawa, then the real surprise isn’t that Tkachuk eventually left. It’s that the front office didn’t move sooner.
In Other News...
Wild Quietly Secured Important Right Side Blue Line Depth
Ottawas offseason roster churn has already started to ripple beyond the NHL level, and one of the more notable names in that mix is Arthur Kaliyev. After putting together a big AHL season with Belleville, the winger still found himself on the outside of Ottawas plans when the club chose not to tender a qualifying offer, leaving his future tied to the broader market rather than the Senators depth chart.
That uncertainty has only grown as interest has surfaced from multiple KHL clubs, a reminder that Ottawas decision could send a productive scorer overseas instead of back into its organization. For a team looking to keep its pipeline stocked and its options flexible, Kaliyevs next move is one more small but meaningful offseason thread to watch. [Read more 🡒]
Oilers Power Play Could Be Headed For A Risky New Direction
The Senators made one of their most important summer moves by keeping Claude Giroux in the fold on a one-year contract, a deal that gives Ottawa a familiar veteran presence while it continues to build around its younger core. Girouxs return fits the organizations broader approach of balancing development with reliability, and it keeps a steady two-way player in a room that still leans on experience in key moments.
The contract itself reflects that balance, with a modest base salary and the chance to earn more through performance bonuses. Ottawa wanted to preserve Girouxs leadership and on-ice stability without losing flexibility, and the timing of the agreement suggests both sides were motivated to get it done quickly once talks gained momentum. [Read more 🡒]
Senators Next Captain Choice Will Say Everything About This New Era
With Brady Tkachuk and Daniel Alfredsson no longer in the picture, Ottawa is once again staring at one of those franchise-defining decisions that can say as much about the room as the roster. The Senators have a few obvious paths, and each one points in a different direction for a team trying to define its next era. Thomas Chabot brings tenure and a long view of what the organization has been through, while Claude Giroux offers the kind of steady presence that can help bridge a transition without forcing the issue too soon.
Then there are the younger possibilities, Tim Sttzle and Jake Sanderson, who represent the question Ottawa has to answer before the season begins: should the captain be the most established voice, or the player most likely to carry the team forward? The club could even choose to leave the role empty, as it did after trading Erik Karlsson, which would only underline how much this choice reflects the Senators priorities right now. [Read more 🡒]