The Senators are heading into next season without Brady Tkachuk, and Jordan Spence isn’t pretending that kind of exit doesn’t land hard in the room.
Asked on the Coming In Hot podcast whether players take it personally when their captain asks to be traded, Spence gave a blunt answer: "I mean, yes and no. It is tough."
That’s the reality Ottawa is dealing with now. Tkachuk has been the face of the franchise for years, and at some point this summer, his former teammates are going to keep getting asked to explain how they felt about the move. Spence was the latest, and he didn’t hide the sting of it.
Still, he also made it clear the group inside the room hasn’t lost faith in itself. Spence said the players believe in each other and in the way they want to play.
"I think all the guys on our team, we have belief in each other. We really do believe that we have a good team when we play our game and play to our identity.
Whenever a guy like that leaves, it does hurt. Maybe there's other reasons why he wanted to leave, but there's also other reasons (like) maybe not having the belief that we all have as a team."
Then came the line that will raise eyebrows for anyone looking at this purely from the outside.
"When it comes down to it, I think that it's going to make us better," he said. "It's a big loss, but, you know, we've got to move on, and we still have a great team, and we're really excited for what's ahead."
Spence also went out of his way to speak highly of Tkachuk, calling him a great guy and basically the kind of teammate and captain every player wants. So this wasn’t a shot at the former captain. It sounded more like a confident team trying to close the book and focus on what comes next.
"We really are excited to start this season," Spence said.
There’s no denying Tkachuk’s departure changes the Senators, on the ice and in the room. But with August nearly here, Spence’s view is that the change doesn’t have to be a negative one. In his eyes, it might even push Ottawa forward.
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