The offseason has begun earlier than just about everyone in the Ottawa Senators organization had hoped, with the team swept out of the first round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs last night. With Ottawa’s loss, focus has shifted to the future of the organization – and more specifically, the future of the team’s captain and franchise face: Brady Tkachuk. Sportsnet’s Alex Adams wrote that “next season could even be a last dance of sorts for this core” of Senators players. More specifically, Tkachuk’s “future and the chatter around him will hang over the team until he’s signed to an extension, is traded or walks away from the nation’s capital.”
The 26-year-old is now just two years away from unrestricted free agency, putting a definitive time frame on the Senators’ hopes of competing for a Stanley Cup. As much as Tkachuk struggled to make his mark against Carolina, he remains one of Ottawa’s most important players and a uniquely coveted asset across the league. The team isn’t able to sign Tkachuk to an extension just yet, but once that window opens, every day that passes without his signature will likely only heighten the speculation that he could see his future elsewhere, the way his brother, Matthew Tkachuk, did before being traded from the Calgary Flames to the Florida Panthers. That’s obviously an outcome the Senators will be desperate to avoid, and their planning for this offseason is likely to reflect a level of aggression designed to quickly strengthen the team to show Tkachuk Ottawa is a place where he can win a Stanley Cup.
Other notes from around the hockey world:
- Former Dallas Stars and Chicago Blackhawks forward Tanner Kero will depart the DEL’s Kölner Haie and become a free agent, according to a team announcement. The 134-game NHL veteran has spent the last two seasons playing in Europe, spending 2024-25 with the SHL’s HV71 and this past year with Cologne. He has been solid at each stop, scoring 22 points in 52 games in the SHL and 29 points in 41 games in Germany. He helped Cologne finish in first place in the DEL’s regular season standings but the club fell to Berlin in six games in the league semifinals.
- 2017 Arizona Coyotes third-round pick Nate Schnarr has also decided to depart Cologne and become a free agent after just one year in Germany. The 184-game AHL veteran has spent the last three years playing in Europe, his first two as a top scorer in Finland’s Liiga and this past year as a point-per-game scorer in Germany. He’s proven to be a capable top-six scoring forward in two of Europe’s better leagues, and is likely to receive considerable interest from clubs across the continent this summer.