Brady Tkachuk’s time with the Ottawa Senators ended with one of the offseason’s biggest and most unexpected trades.
Ottawa dealt their former captain to the Florida Panthers last month, sending him to play with his brother Matthew.
Ottawa drafted Tkachuk with the No. 4 overall pick in the 2018 NHL Draft, and he eventually became the franchise's captain as well as the face of the Senators franchise. While there had been rumors of a potential trade for months, the Senators had always maintained that he was not available, and the player never requested a trade.
The increasing noise around Tkachuk's situation, however, ultimately pushed him out of Ottawa.
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Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman said on Monday's "32 Thoughts" podcast that some Senators players had grown tired of the situation, especially after the 2026 Milan Olympics.
“The Tkachuk thing — we talked about this at length, and it was time to end the noise around the whole situation,” Friedman said. “As we talked about in a previous pod, post-Olympics, (and) it was time (for the breakup). A lot was going on, and the players were tired of it.”
Friedman revealed that one undisclosed Senator's player specifically pointed to the "Wingmen" podcast, which Brady hosts with Matthew, as part of the issue.
“One of the players said the only thing he felt that we should have added was the podcast,” Friedman said. “And he said the podcast caused some problems, and it was just time. It’s better for the Senators just to end the noise.”
Wingmen launched last November and featured Brady, Matthew and their father, Keith. The show drew attention during the season, including when Keith Tkachuk criticized the pain tolerance of some Senators players.
That comment forced Brady to apologize for his father's remarks later, with the then-Senators player saying that Keith's take was about Matthew’s Panthers, not Ottawa's players.
The Senators received the No. 9 and No. 25 picks in the 2026 NHL Draft, a conditional 2029 first-round pick and a 2027 second-round pick in exchange for Tkachuk in the trade with the Panthers.
