Brady Tkachuks Ottawa Return Took An Awkward Turn Off The Ice

Fans express their displeasure with Tkachuk's departure by tossing jerseys on the ice, complicating donation efforts to support a charity close to the player's heart.

The count is in on the Brady Tkachuk jerseys that hit the ice in Ottawa last Wednesday: 37.

Ian Mendes, the Ottawa Senators’ vice president of communications, said in his weekly column that the total came from fans who tossed the jerseys during Tkachuk’s return to Canadian Tire Centre after his summer trade to the Florida Panthers.

Mendes also addressed the donation plan Tkachuk had mentioned before the game. He said he contacted the Panthers on the weekend to pass along the number of jerseys collected, after Tkachuk said he wanted them donated to BGC Ottawa.

“For the record, a lot of those jerseys were in damaged or unusable condition, so we’re not going to physically pass them along to BGC Ottawa.”

Tkachuk, who was booed all night and hit with a steady stream of inventive chants, still opened the scoring in the game. Ottawa, though, came away with a 5-1 win.

Before the matchup, Tkachuk had said on his Wingmen podcast with his brother and teammate Matthew Tkachuk that every No. 7 jersey thrown on the ice would be donated to the Boys and Girls Club in Ottawa, a group he worked with closely while playing in the capital.

“I mean, now, just talking with our team and going to be talking with the Boys and Girls Club that, you know, every jersey that gets thrown on the ice, it’s going to get donated to a friend at the Boys and Girls Club in Ottawa,” Tkachuk said. “So, I don’t recommend doing it.”

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