The general manager of the Ottawa Senators says captain Brady Tkachuk asked to be traded from the team but didn’t provide further details when pressed by reporters.
The club announced the blockbuster trade on Sunday evening, sending Tkachuk to the Florida Panthers in exchange for three first-round draft picks and a second-round pick.
In a media availability on Monday, Steve Staios thanked Tkachuk for his impact on the team and the city of Ottawa. While he had wanted to see Tkachuk remain on the team long-term, he says the situation changed as the season went on.
“I think it became clear as the season went on this year that maybe something was amiss, and that had changed, but up until that point, I would have loved to have seen it through with Brady,” Staios said.
“There was no animosity to this. This is part of the process. The player had a no move clause, and we did what we needed to do in this transaction to give ourselves an opportunity to move forward with the group.”
Staios says he had discussions with Tkachuk about a week after the team was eliminated in the first round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs, where it became clear to him that Tkachuk had desired a trade. When asked about the nature of the discussions, Staios didn’t provide specifics.
“I won’t get into our private discussions. I don’t think that’s fair. The end result was that he wanted to be traded, and that I engaged in the process at that time, a very detailed process,” he said.
Tkachuk said as recently as April that he was “fully committed” to the Senators after rumours spread that he was looking elsewhere began to spread following the Olympic Winter Games. Staios had previously called the rumours “nonsense.”
Staios says he looks forward to adding to the strong group of players on the roster and to build off the success the team has had in making two back-to-back playoff appearances.
“I have no intention of this group taking a step back,” he said.
As part of the deal with the Panthers, the Ottawa Senators will have the No. 9 and No. 25 selections in this year’s NHL Draft, with a second-round pick in 2027 and another first-round pick in 2029.
Ottawa also have a 32nd overall draft pick this year.
Brady Tkachuk will be joining a team with his brother Matthew Tkachuk, which won back-to-back Stanley Cups in 2024 and 2025 but failed to make the playoffs in 2026. Brady and Matthew Tkachuk were part of Team USA and won the first Olympic gold medal for American men’s hockey since 1980. The pair host the hockey-focused Wingmen podcast together.
Brady Tkachuk was Ottawa’s captain for the last five seasons. He played 572 games with the club and played in all 10 of Ottawa’s playoff games over the last two seasons.
No player had more goals, points, power-play goals, shots, hits, winning goals, multigoal games and penalty minutes in his tenure at the club.
With files from The Associated Press
