The Ottawa Senators continue to navigate the home stretch of the season with their playoff fate still hanging in the air.
Ottawa enters Friday with a 39-26-10 record and 88 points in 75 games. The Senators are in a three-way tie for the final wild-card spot in the Eastern Conference with the Detroit Red Wings and the Columbus Blue Jackets.
Despite a highly competitive stretch run, attention shifted away from the ice earlier this week to focus on the comments made by Senators captain Brady Tkachuk's father, Keith, during an appearance on his son's podcast.
During Wednesday's episode of the "Wingmen" podcast, Keith Tkachuk made some remarks about what he perceives as the Senators' lack of toughness.
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“Holy Christ, (Brady’s) whole team: ‘Oh, my pinky hurts. I’m out for six days,’” Keith Tkachuk said. “I just had a bad sleep, so I can’t play today. Oh my god… disgusting. I can’t play back-to-back. Mismanagement.”
The comments quickly generated backlash, especially with Brady Tkachuk, the Senators' leader, present during the conversation and not doing anything to stop his father.
Brady Tkachuk addressed the situation Friday, and he pushed back on how the comments were interpreted.
“I talked to him after, and there was no shot at anyone," Brady Tkachuk said. "I don’t know how it got twisted to this point where we’re having to talk about it now.”
Added Tkachuk: “I’ve answered this a couple of times now. People are going to interpret things how they want, but I know what was said and what I was part of.”
Ultimately, Tkachuk emphasized his support for his father while declining to reinterpret the remarks he made on the podcast.
“I completely respect my dad. He’s going to be a Hall of Famer,” Tkachuck said. “I’m not going to put words in his mouth or explain what he said. If you know him, he's an outgoing guy, says kind of what he thinks, and I know it comes from a good place.”
The Senators will return to action Saturday when they'll host the Minnesota Wild at 1 p.m. ET.
