After being eliminated by the Carolina Hurricanes in Round One of the Stanley Cup playoffs, speculation has already begun regarding Brady Tkachuk‘s future with the Ottawa Senators. Tkachuk is one year away from being eligible for an extension, and the Senators may look to capitalize before it’s too late.
Tkachuk, 26, is a known commodity at this point. Outside of this season, he has remained healthy over his entire career, despite playing a notorious crash-and-bang style of hockey. He’s become a consistent top-six scorer over the last five years, to boot, registering 153 goals and 338 points in 374 games, averaging 18:26 of ice time.
Additionally, as mentioned, he does what many top-six wingers fail to do: embrace the physicality of the game. Averaging 3.36 hits per game since debuting in the 2018-19 season, Tkachuk has never shied away from the fight, always looking for a way to give his team an edge wherever he can.
Still, like many of his teammates, Tkachuk was a ghost against the Hurricanes. It was a much different performance than last postseason, when Tkachuk tallied four goals and seven points in six games against the Toronto Maple Leafs, totalling 30 hits. This spring, he went scoreless in the series sweep with a -4 rating, finishing with 13 hits.
Although it was a second consecutive year that Ottawa made the postseason, many feel that the team took a step back, and with good reason. Due to inconsistent goaltending, the Senators finished one win short of last season and did not demonstrate much, if any, competitiveness in the playoffs.
That’s not to say it’s Tkachuk’s fault, but he is billed as the heart and soul of the team, which the organization showed very little of against Carolina. Furthermore, if he is unhappy in Canada’s capital and has his heart set on returning to the United States, it would make some sense for the Senators to trade him this offseason in an attempt to shake up the locker room and avoid losing him for nothing in a few years.
Regardless, it’s not something Ottawa necessarily needs to think about right now. Tkachuk is signed through the 2027-28 season, and it’s hard to imagine Tkachuk’s trade stock radically changing, especially if he’s willing to negotiate an extension with any interested club. He also has a full no-movement clause in his contract, which began this season, so the terms will be dictated by him, anyway.
Now it’s time for you to take the crystal ball. Will the Senators move on from Tkachuk this offseason to jump-start the team, or will they pursue other changes, like a coaching hire or other roster-related moves in the meantime before deciding on Tkachuk’s future after next season? Vote below!
Imagine Tom Wilson and Brady Tkachuk on the same team. Ouch.
Great coaches like Rod Brind’Amour have answers for guys like Tkachuk in playoff series, Quenneville the same, Shutting down McDavid in the Ducks playoff series.
Is that right? Barkov took them to school. I dont think shutting down Brady is the same as shutting down McDavid either. But yes I largely agree Rod is a good coach and great coaches are able to scheme a way to shut down the opposing teams best player
I’m predicting he’ll be with the mammoth next year. Going the other way Gabe Smith, peterka,
Simashev, and either a 1st or Beudoin.
When the dust settles, this might end up being a 50-50 split. It didn’t help matters that Walt Jr. #2’s infamous statement of “This will be a long series” turned out to be a “waste of 8 days”, instead. Maybe to him it was a long series. Some will blame Travis, which is understandable, but to me it doesn’t seem like this team is on the same page, which is borne out in the players’ post-game responses, both regular season and postseason.
#NYR
At 26 and armed with a bevy of top prospects and future first and second round picks the Hawks should be all over this situation. Tkachuck would be the one thing the Hawks really don’t have a physical C or wing who is a net front presence and general ornery and angry man. If they truly want to move on (And I have my doubts), It should be Kyle Davidson on line 1.
In fact I’ll go a step further. I say if the lottery goes bad for the Hawks and they don’t get 1 or 2, I’d even include this years pick in the deal. McKenna or Stenberg’s familiarity with Frondell might be hard to pass up but if it’s 3 or worse( Not sure how low it could go) Give me Tkachuck all day long along with a few other pieces from the Hawks. Then the Hawks would have their Captain, And depending on what position they want him to play and who they would play him with physicality they don’t have. Since the Hawks have first round picks that aren’t theirs it wouldn’t matter as much. Nazar, Commesso, Moore, Boisvert, Basically anybody but Bedard or Frondell, Knight or a Defenseman could be an option.