The Senators Still Have Work To Do This Summer
Ottawa Senators general manager Steve Staios has publicly stated that he has no intention of letting the team take a step back this summer. A few weeks into the summer, he has chipped away at that notion but has yet to fully build a better lineup. Ottawa is currently a weaker team on paper than they were when it exited the ice after a first-round sweep at the hands of the Carolina Hurricanes. It’s possible that Staios goes on a heater and nets the team a few pieces to add to the NHL lineup, making this summer a success, but at the moment, things don’t look rosy.
The Brady Tkachuk hole in the Senators’ lineup is very difficult to ignore right now. You can’t simply replace his presence, emotion, or production. Tkachuk was a tone-setter for the Senators, their most difficult player to play against, and perhaps the only difficult part of playing in Ottawa, other than the commute to the Canadian Tire Centre. Ottawa did receive solid compensation for the 27-year-old in the form of four draft picks, three of which were first-rounders, but the Senators have not adequately replaced his departure.
The addition of William Eklund is a nice start, but he didn’t come cheap and won’t fill in for much of what Tkachuk brought to the table. It’s possible he has better hockey ahead of him than Tkachuk, when you factor in age and the regression that will surely start sooner for Tkachuk than for Eklund. You could also make a case that Eklund is a more complete player than Tkachuk, and some analytics support that (goals above replacement in the last two seasons, for one). Eklund is probably the better defensive player of the two and is much more of a play driver than Tkachuk, who relies more on brute force and battle to get his work done.
On top of Eklund, the remaining draft picks are also solid long-term additions, but they won’t give Ottawa a boost next season unless they are flipped in the interim for significant NHL talent. That’s where Ottawa will struggle, as they are constrained by the salary cap and probably can’t add another top-six forward, which they need. That player would slide into an offensive role, a leadership role, and perhaps a special-teams role. There is a lot of Tkachuk that hasn’t been replaced, and it’s a significant challenge to replace it piecemeal.
A problem for Ottawa, or perhaps the problem, is that they entered this offseason needing to add depth to their top six, and even with the addition of Eklund, they’re effectively back at square one. It’s unlikely that Ottawa will add to their top two lines this offseason unless they send money out the door at the same time.
There is also the question of what to do with Drake Batherson, who is eligible for an extension and is less than a year away from unrestricted free agency. Batherson has been a terrific offensive producer for the Senators, but given his body of work, it’s not crazy to think he could be a $9MM player going forward. Is that a number Ottawa is comfortable paying for an offensive player who doesn’t necessarily pay attention to the finer details away from the puck? It’s a question that will be answered in time, but even if Ottawa is leaning towards moving him, they simply don’t have the leverage right now because they’ve already had to move Tkachuk, and losing two scoring wingers would be trouble for a team, especially when Batherson just had a career year.
One positive for Ottawa is that they brought back veteran Claude Giroux, who should provide leadership, stability, and, most importantly, depth for the Senators. The delicate balance of the Senators’ forward group means that one or two injuries could expose a massive problem with the team’s depth up front. Ottawa isn’t exactly rich with forward prospects, but they wisely tapped into the forward free agency market and signed some tweeners who should be good AHL players and decent call-ups if the Senators find themselves in injury trouble. Philip Tomasino and Sammy Blais are the likely players to get those call-ups, and while they aren’t exactly impact players at this stage of their careers, they can provide reasonable NHL minutes for a low cost. Tomasino has shown glimpses in the past of being on the verge of a breakout, but he has never been able to put it together on a long-term basis.
Overall, the Senators haven’t taken a major step back this summer, but they haven’t exactly improved either, which, in a way, is admirable given that they had to move on from their captain earlier than they’d hoped. At the same time, Ottawa can ill afford to sit around and hope that internal improvements will lead to them taking their next steps. Ottawa has some good young players, but make no mistake, the time to compete for Stanley Cups is now, and the Senators don’t feel like a club that is ready to do that. Some folks might look at their lineup and the salary structure and say they have plenty of runway to win a cup in this competitive window. However, these are the Ottawa Senators, and they do have a history of losing star players earlier than they’d like, so there are no guarantees that everybody sticks around to see their whole run through.
Assessing The Senators’ Inability To Retain Stars Long Term
Dating back to their origins in the early 1990s, the Ottawa Senators have seen a number of stars and superstars leave for other teams for various reasons. As you comb through their past, Ottawa has never been able to draft, develop, and retain a star player for their entire career, and rarely beyond their second NHL contract. Of course, it has happened again this week with the trade of Brady Tkachuk to the Florida Panthers, leaving Senators fans once again wondering why stars always depart Canada’s national capital.
Now, in fairness to the Senators, there are many teams in the NHL that haven’t been able to keep players for their entire careers. After all, even Michael Jordan famously put on a Washington Wizards uniform at the end of his NBA career. And Wayne Gretzky wore four different NHL jerseys. But most teams have at least one star who has remained with that organization for the entire run of their career, and most, if not all, teams have retained a star for the entire duration of their third NHL contract. Yet, for whatever reason, Ottawa struggles to do that consistently, and it has to be concerning going forward, as their current star players will be looking for a third contract in the near future.
Daniel Alfredsson and Jason Spezza are two stars who were drafted and developed by the Senators and then signed a third contract with the Senators. They might, in fact, be the only two who did so, but even in Spezza’s case, he was traded to the Dallas Stars with one year remaining on that third contract after he’d asked for a trade. And that is a common theme for the Senators during their tenure in the NHL.
Now, in fairness to Ottawa, their first 10-12 years in the NHL were marked by financial difficulties, which often meant trading away star players when they became unaffordable. This became particularly apparent in their early 2000s trade of star Alexei Yashin to the New York Islanders. Yashin wanted a big payday, and Ottawa opted to move him on his way, taking back Zdeno Chara, the second overall pick (which became Spezza), and Bill Muckalt. The deal was a massive win for Ottawa, but it did start a trend of stars either being moved out or moving on their own.
The story was similar for Marian Hossa, Chara, Wade Redden, Dany Heatley, Alfreddsson, Spezza, Erik Karlsson, and Mark Stone. Not all of those players were drafted by Ottawa, but most were developed into premier assets in Ottawa, and none of them stayed for the long haul.
Now, the interesting part is that they all left for different reasons. For some, it was money; for others, it was opportunity. But at the end of the day, the Senators have never held onto that star player for the long haul, unless you count defenseman Chris Phillips, who had a nice career but was hardly a star.
So all of that leads us to this week and the Brady Tkachuk saga, which has now ended with a trade to the Florida Panthers. Tkachuk reportedly asked for a trade at some point this summer, and the Senators moved quickly to facilitate the transaction to avoid distraction. Much will be made of Tkachuk’s request and the potential reasons behind it, which could range from family considerations to geographical ones. In any event, Tkachuk joins a long list of Senators stars who left quite early in their careers for other teams.
In some cases, the stars who left went on to find great success. Stone, Hossa and Chara went on to win Stanley Cups with their respective teams. By contrast, other former Sens stars hit rock bottom, in particular Heatley, who never came close to matching his production in Ottawa, played just six seasons in the NHL after a trade to the San Jose Sharks, and saw his NHL career end at just 34 years of age. Redden was another former Senators star who was essentially banished to the AHL because of his contract and rode the bus for a few seasons before eventually retiring.
The most notable star to leave Ottawa was Alfredsson, who departed after an illustrious Senators career at age 40. Now, Alfredsson was a special case, having signed multiple extensions with Ottawa, but he joined the Red Wings in July 2013 because he viewed it as an opportunity to chase a Stanley Cup. This has been true of several other stars as well, as the Senators have seen their window of contention run its course, forcing the team to move out their stars. This was the case with both Stone and Karlsson, as they were approaching free agency and Ottawa was about to enter a rebuild. It’s hard to fault the team for looking to recoup assets in either case, and in the Karlsson case, they were able to get an absolute haul for their three-time Norris Trophy winner.
At the end of the day, Ottawa’s far from the only team to have contentious endings with their star players, but they do seem to have an issue keeping them into their 30s, which may or may not be the worst thing, depending on how you look at it. Sure, the players’ legacies may not be cemented in Ottawa because they played for other teams as long or longer than they played for Ottawa. However, the Senators recouped assets for many of these players and didn’t overpay them through their 30s.
That likely doesn’t give many Senators fans peace of mind, as they’ve had to watch countless stars leave for greener pastures. This week’s Tkachuk trade reminded them of that. With many stars still in the fold in Ottawa, the team and the fans will be hoping that the likes of Tim Stützle and Jake Sanderson hang around for the long haul to take the team to new levels of success. One thing that should give Senators fans some silver lining is that most of the players who have left Ottawa in recent memory have done so because the team was closing its competitive window, and for right now and the near future, Ottawa’s window should remain wide open.
The Panthers Next Move After Brady Tkachuk: Address Goaltending
The Florida Panthers shook the NHL yesterday.
When it was believed that their big move on Sunday, June 21, would be sending Mackie Samoskevich to Seattle for the 25th overall pick in 2026, they took that draft pick, plus their own ninth selection, and a few hours later, packaged more picks to acquire Matthew Tkachuk‘s brother, Brady Tkachuk.
The Panthers, who originally entered the offseason with $15.7MM in cap space to work with, now have around a little above $7MM in cap space this summer after assembling arguably the NHL’s most stacked forward group it will see next year. Despite having that intrigue, as well as a solidified veteran defensive corps, Florida remains without a goaltender between the pipes to start the 2026-27 season. Both 37-year-old Sergei Bobrovsky and Daniil Tarasov are set to hit the free agent market on July 1st. If those options aren’t in the cards for Florida, they need to look elsewhere, and they have a few avenues to go down.
The Big Fish: Connor Hellebuyck
Brady was one way Florida elevated themselves in a reboot back after ending this past season out of the playoffs, but how to replace the stellar goaltending Sergei Bobrovsky used to provide? Connor Hellebuyck would check those boxes. The 32-year-old is the third-highest-paid No. 1 goaltender in the NHL. That doesn’t come without reason. The three-time Vezina trophy winner as the league’s best goaltender, and 2024-25 league MVP, makes $8.5MM per season and will earn $59.5MM by the time he’s 38 years old in 2031. It would require a contract dealt away to make this happen.
He posted a 2.86 goals against average and a 0.895 save percentage, the SV% chalking up to the worst of his 11-year NHL career. After three consecutive seasons of 30+ goals saved above expected, he ended 2025-26 stopping -0.3, his worst in that category since 2016-17. All of this culminated in a 23-23-11 record in 57 games started for the Jets.
At the Jets’ end-of-season press conference, he had expressed that the Cup was the only milestone missing from his resume, which might not be attainable in Winnipeg. Plus, added seasoning from Chris Johnston of TSN, who said teams are calling based on his disappointment, signs could be pointing to Hellebuyck packing his bags away from the Jets, who ended with a 35-35-12 record, good for 7th in the Central Division after eight playoff appearances in the last ten seasons. In a year where he won a gold medal with the USA at the 2026 Winter Olympics in Milan, a triumph that saw a dropoff from being a part of the league’s best team for the President’s Trophy just a year ago, and was three wins away from a Stanley Cup Final appearance in 2018, it’s not out of the realm of possibility that he’d want to be back in that window.
Low-risk change of scenery
If the Panthers want to stay within their cap space and not spend all the way up to $7MM, they’re going to have to get cute and maybe take a chance on a goalie with a lesser pedigree.
A few names have been circling the goalie trade market that Florida could consider dealing for. New Jersey’s Jacob Markstrom could potentially be available out of the Devils, according to Kevin Weekes of NHL Network. The 31-year-old is entering a two-year, $12MM ($6MM AAV) deal and could use a change of scenery from a 3.07 goals-against average and .883 save percentage campaign in 44 games. Perhaps former 2019 Stanley Cup Champion Jordan Binnington, who enters the last year of a six-year, $6MM AAV contract at age 32 with the Blues, would suffice for the regular season and shine in the big moments of playoff hockey. How about a gamble with the Red Wings on 23-year-old Sebastian Cossa? Despite a late-season fall-off in the AHL, he could present as a low-risk, high-reward pickup considering his status as a former first-round pick from 2021.
Free Agency
If all comes to pass, GM Bill Zito could always just sign a free agent he sees fit for the team. This is also where you could find a budget baller in between your pipes for this season and beyond.
Maybe 27-year-old Stuart Skinner wants to be a cup-contending goalie again. The former Oilers goaltender lost twice to Florida in the finals, but if you can’t beat them, why not join them? If that doesn’t come to pass, Frederik Andersen might want to stay in the warmth of the American southeast. If the reigning Cup champs in Carolina don’t have him back, Florida would enjoy his services of a .910 save percentage and 1.89 goals-against average in 16 playoff games, replicated if possible. That’s just two of 14 goaltenders available, where none aside from former Panther Bobrovsky, made above $5MM last season; those guys would ideally consider Sunrise as a great destination if the Panthers were to call.
Photo Credit: Sergei Belski-Imagn Images
Panthers Acquire Brady Tkachuk
An absolute blockbuster has taken place as the Florida Panthers have acquired Ottawa Senators captain Brady Tkachuk. The inner-divisional trade has been confirmed by Florida and Ottawa.
In exchange for the face of their franchise, Ottawa takes both the ninth and 25th overall selections in this Friday’s draft, along with another first-rounder in 2029, and finally a second-round pick in 2027. The Athletic’s Chris Johnston reports that the 2029 first-round selection carries top-10 protection. The return is entirely draft capital, meaning the club is slated for three top selections in Buffalo shortly; 9th, 25th, and 32nd. According to TSN’s Pierre LeBrun, the Sens weren’t always intent on such a futures-focused package, trying to bring back Anton Lundell, whom Florida didn’t budge on.
Finally with an end to the saga which has dragged on for some time, finding a new home for the 26-year-old star who was rumored to be wanting out for the last two years, they also shed his $8.2MM cap hit, giving general manager Steve Staios around $25MM in cap space to work with on a team still intent on contention in 2026-27. As his contract expires in two years, if Tkachuk was to reluctantly stay in Canada’s capital city, the noise would have only kept rising all while his trade value diminished.
For the Panthers, their trade of Mackie Samoskevich earlier today netted the 25th overall pick from Seattle, thought to be a bargaining chip of some capacity. Few would have anticipated it to come into play just hours later in a deal of this magnitude. Having a top 10 selection at the podium one summer after their back-to-back Stanley Cups was never the plan, but it became a huge asset. Rather than drafting a prospect who would need a few years to make an impact, they’ve gone out and gotten who very well could be the biggest name they possibly could have acquired, uniting the elite 6’4″ winger with his brother, Matthew.
Since being drafted fourth overall by the Sens in 2018, Tkachuk has risen into one of the game’s premier power forwards. Always bringing relentless physical traits and net-front abilities, he broke out in 2022-23 surpassing the point-per-game mark for the first time with 83 points in 82 games. The output showcased his flourishing play-driving capability, far more than just a net-front presence who bangs home rebounds. Things haven’t come so easily since then, not meeting the 80-point mark since, and playing in 60 regular season contests as a result of a wrist injury in October. Even then, he came away from the past season with 59 points as a player already right among the NHL’s best, and still having yet to reach his full potential.
In the playoffs the Senators went out quietly to the eventual champion Carolina Hurricanes, but even if Tkachuk was not filling the score sheet due to his ailments, he still couldn’t be missed, dropping the mitts with Jordan Staal off the opening face-off of the series.
There are plenty of parallels with his brother, the duo able to affect the game in similar ways. Still, Brady is different from Matthew in that he’s more of a shoot-first, straight-line player. Always a wild possibility to imagine them able to play together, like they have done for Team USA in the past, highlighted by the unforgettable gold medal win over Team Canada, Zito has pulled it off. Decimating his draft assets when it’s already very thin in their farm system, imagining the duo wreaking havoc across the Atlantic Division, along with Sam Bennett and Brad Marchand, to go with healthy stars in Aleksander Barkov and Sam Reinhart, Florida fans will be happy to worry about prospect rankings some time later. With the Tkachuks set to play together on a daily basis now, rather than just on the international circuit, they’ll make an impact reminiscent of Daniel and Henrik Sedin of the last era.
Content to finally move on from what was a distraction in Ottawa throughout 2025-26 and even before that, there was still little warning that the deal would materialize so early in the summer. Less than two months ago in his end-of-season press conference, Tkachuk shot down trade rumors, speaking to his commitment to the team, and saying the speculation was “getting frustrating”. It turns out that was not so much the case, as LeBrun reported that he ultimately had four teams on a list, wanting to join his brother as the #1 most favorable scenario, with Minnesota, Carolina, and Vegas also in the mix.
In terms of the Wild, known to be big-game hunting this summer, Michael Russo of The Athletic confirmed Minnesota’s efforts to acquire Tkachuk, no stranger to league-shaking deals after their trade for Quinn Hughes. Russo says that they made a “huge offer” but Brady’s preference to play with his brother, of whom he co-hosts a podcast titled “Wingmen” with, was too much to pass up. Regardless of any long-term ramifications, Florida swooped in to make it happen, and they’ll be serious contenders for a third title in the next few years.
Left over with just over $7MM of cap space, Zito’s Panthers figure to be out of the running for fellow gold medalists they’d been linked to in Dylan Larkin and Connor Hellebuyck. Besides minor signings to round out depth, there’s still one big item on their checklist; goaltending. Both Sergei Bobrovsky and Daniil Tarasov are set to hit the open market on July 1. Between re-upping the 37-year-old Bobrovsky or shopping for someone new like Stuart Skinner, today’s trade for Tkachuk limits them to more mundane options. Now that they’re more thin on the cap front, the best option could be trying to get Bobrovsky on a team-friendly deal and hoping he has what it takes to backstop the high flying team while approaching age 40. All that to say, if there’s one possible weakness that stands out on Florida’s roster going into 2026-27, it’s between the pipes.
Based on the situation which has some resemblance to Calgary’s difficulty in retaining Matthew four years ago, before his own trade to the Sunshine State, Ottawa finds themselves with a haul of draft picks and plenty of time to figure out how to proceed. Most advantageous from the assets they got is the flexibility in what comes next, opposite to what the Flames brought on for Brady’s brother. The trade return looks like the first step of a tear-down, but the Sens will do no such thing, with a forward corps led by Tim Stutzle which is still intact for another season. Boasting two premier defensemen in Jake Sanderson and Thomas Chabot, Ottawa is thought to be needing a top-four righty. They’re in luck with abundant options to choose from, but now with a massive hole in their top six and plenty of cap room, one has to wonder if the Senators will make a run at free agent Alex Tuch, or leverage their draft capital to seek out a Tkachuk-esque replacement elsewhere on the trade market.
The Panthers hardly had a shot to defend their back-to-back Stanley Cups this past season, losing Barkov on a devastating knee injury before the puck even dropped on opening night. Dealing with several more issues and never able to ice a lineup anywhere near full strength, the struggles paved the way for the addition of another superstar, as the Tkachuks will be must-watch for years to come.
TSN’s Pierre LeBrun broke the news that the deal was close, while Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet was the first to officially confirm the trade.
Image Credit: Jerome Miron-Imagn Images and Geoff Burke-Imagn Images
Senators To Be Active In Trade And Free Agency Front During Offseason
The Ottawa Senators are wasting little time addressing areas of need following their first-round playoff sweep at the hands of the Carolina Hurricanes. With the NHL Draft approaching on June 26-27, president of hockey operations and GM Steve Staios was active at last week’s Combine in Buffalo. According to Bruce Garrioch of The Ottawa Sun, Staios met with league executives and player agents amid a thin free-agent market that is pushing more clubs toward trades. The push includes additions at all areas of the roster.
A league executive indicated Ottawa is in the market for a top-six winger capable of lining up with Tim Stützle and captain Brady Tkachuk. While the Senators lack significant assets for a major splash, Garrioch’s sources noted Anaheim’s Mason McTavish as a realistic target given existing organizational ties. Jordan Kyrou was previously mentioned in early deadline chatter, though Garrioch noted that scenario “doesn’t make sense” for Ottawa at this stage.
On the blue line, adding a top-four right-shot defenseman remains a priority with veteran Nick Jensen expected to test unrestricted free agency following knee surgery. RFA Jordan Spence averaged 25 minutes of ice time during his four postseason games and holds arbitration rights, which could set up potentially tricky negotiations.
In an effort to boost the blue line and offer any veteran help, the Senators also checked in on St. Louis veterans Colton Parayko and Justin Faulk at the March trade deadline. However, neither was willing to waive their new move clauses to come to Ottawa. Faulk was ultimately dealt to Detroit, while Parayko declined to waive his no-move clause despite a strong offer from Buffalo that included a high-end prospect and first-round pick.
In net, the Senators are expected to focus on backup goaltending, and should qualify Leevi Meriläinen, while monitoring UFAs options like Connor Ingram and Stuart Skinner, among others.
Veteran UFA forwards Claude Giroux and Nick Cousins have noted strong desires to stay in Ottawa. Staios is reportedly high on retaining both, with Giroux likely returning on another bonus-heavy structure.
Trade talks will be a little more challenging without the draft capital of their No. 32 overall draft selection. Expect trade discussions to intensify in the coming weeks as clubs position themselves ahead of July 1 free agency.
Atlantic Notes: Tkachuk, Dobson, Der-Arguchintsev
Ottawa Senators captain Brady Tkachuk took center stage Wednesday during his end-of-season press conference, using the time to forcefully shut down growing speculation regarding his future with the club. While the rest of the team’s end-of-season press conference was held on Monday after the Carolina Hurricanes swept the Senators, Tkachuk was delayed to celebrate the birth of his daughter, Lyla. During the discussions, Tkachuk wasted little time addressing trade rumors that he labeled a “distraction.”
“I feel like I’ve never shown, never said, none of those things have ever come out of my mouth, and quite honestly, it’s just getting frustrating,” Tkachuk said. “I have been fully committed to this team, to this city.”
General Manager Steve Staios echoed that sentiment earlier in the week, calling the rumors “nonsense.” Tkachuk, 26, is under contract for two more seasons and finished the year with 59 points in 60 games. Despite his regular-season production, he was held scoreless in the opening-round sweep, a result he admitted was a “big shot in the confidence.” He plans to meet with Staios following the U18 World Championships to discuss how to improve the roster for next season.
Additional notes around the Atlantic:
- The Montreal Canadiens received a significant boost during Wednesday’s optional skate as defenseman Noah Dobson returned to the ice. Dobson has been sidelined since April 11 after blocking a shot with his left hand, an injury that forced him to miss the start of the Canadiens’ first-round series against the Tampa Bay Lightning. While he skated individually and has yet to be cleared for full contact, his presence is a major step forward for a Habs blueline that has relied heavily on Mike Matheson and Lane Hutson in his absence.
- Former Maple Leafs prospect Semyon Der-Arguchintsev is reportedly interested in a return to the NHL after a productive stint in the KHL. His agent, Shumi Babaev, confirmed that they have already reached out to the organization to express a desire to rejoin the system. “Semyon is considering the option of returning to Toronto,” Babaev told R.org’s Daria Tuboltseva. “We contacted former general manager Brad Treliving and expressed our desire to return to the club’s system. Now we are waiting for the appointment of a new general manager and to understand his position.” Der-Arguchintsev, 25, recorded 37 points in 59 KHL games this season.
Atlantic Notes: Tkachuk, Free Agents, Hamonic
The Ottawa Senators’ quick elimination from the playoffs at the hands of the Carolina Hurricanes has prompted speculation about the future of captain Brady Tkachuk. Senators GM Steve Staios was asked about Tkachuk’s future in his end-of-season media availability today, and he made it clear the franchise has no interest in trading away – or even having a conversation about trading away – their star forward. When asked about whether he’d sit down with the player to discuss Tkachuk’s future, he said “there’s nothing that we have talked about or thought about where that conversation should happen.”
Bruce Garrioch of the Ottawa Citizen noted that Tkachuk, who has a full no-move clause on his contract, has “full control” over his future. Although Tkachuk is just two seasons away from being able to leave Ottawa as an unrestricted free agent, it’s somewhat difficult to imagine the Senators winning any trade involving him. The Calgary Flames’ decision to deal Tkachuk’s older brother, Matthew Tkachuk, serves as a cautionary tale. The deal immediately vaulted the Panthers to legitimate Stanley Cup contention while plunging the Flames into what would eventually become a true rebuild. The younger Tkachuk isn’t the same caliber of player as his brother, but he’s still, as Travis Green said, a winger that all 31 other NHL teams “would love to have.” But the no-move clause on Tkachuk’s contract means he could hand-pick a trade destination, and dramatically reduce the kind of return the Senators might receive. That’s a factor that has burned teams in the past trading players with no-move clauses. For that reason, and many more, Staios made it clear today that unless something changes, his hockey operations department has no interest in even entertaining trade discussions revolving around Tkachuk.
Other notes from the Atlantic Division:
- Staios also updated the media (including TSN’s Claire Hanna) on the status of the team’s pending unrestricted free agents, saying of the group “I have not closed the door on anyone.” He said he has spoken to each of the team’s pending UFA’s, but decided it best to “take a little bit of time and reflect” since the end of the season is still so fresh. The most significant name among Ottawa’s pending UFAs is veteran winger Claude Giroux. The 38-year-old, who is a veteran of over 1,300 NHL games, scored 49 points this season. He’s shown he can still be a productive member of an NHL middle-six, and it would not be a surprise if there is mutual interest in a contract extension.
- “It looks like” veteran defenseman Travis Hamonic‘s “time in Detroit is over,” writes Max Bultman of The Athletic. The 35-year-old defenseman, who has 926 career NHL games on his record, only got into 26 contests for Detroit after signing a UFA deal with the team last summer. Hamonic was squeezed out of head coach Todd McLellan’s lineup in large part due to the emergence of Axel Sandin Pellikka, a rookie who is among the Red Wings’ top prospects. When he did play, Hamonic averaged just 14:22 time on ice per game, the lowest mark of any Red Wings blueliner, and a solid step below where he was last season. (He averaged 17:04 time on ice per game as a Senator in 2024-25.) If Hamonic wants to continue his NHL career and make a push towards getting his 1,000th game, he’ll likely need to do so by signing with another team.
Poll: Will Brady Tkachuk Be On The Senators Next Season?
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!
Will Brady Tkachuk Be On The Senators Next Season?
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No 61% (759)
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Yes 39% (492)
Total votes: 1,251
Morning Notes: Tkachuk, Kero, Schnarr
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.
Atlantic Notes: Tkachuk, Hovorka, Laughton, Viel
The Ottawa Senators have been without their captain, Brady Tkachuk, for the last few games of their regular season. Fortunately, his absence isn’t expected to creep into the playoffs, as TSN’s Bruce Garrioch reported that Tkachuk is “good to go” for the postseason.
The injury keeping Tkachuk is one of the weirder ones this season. In Ottawa’s recent game against the New York Islanders, Tkachuk was bumped by Islanders’ defenseman Ryan Pulock, causing Tkachuk to return to the bench while wobbling. In recent updates, Tkachuk clarified that his dizziness was unrelated to Pulock and resulted from a prior hit in the game. As of now, he has been cleared of all concussion symptoms.
Regardless, it’s big news for the Senators who are looking to pull off an upset in their opening-round matchup. The heart and soul of the team, Tkachuk has been irreplaceable for Ottawa, scoring 22 goals and 59 points in 60 games, while leveling 162 hits. Despite missing a decent chunk of the season due to injury, Tkachuk remains third on the team in scoring and is likely to finish there.
Additional notes from the Atlantic Division:
- According to George Richards of Florida Hockey Now, the Florida Panthers have recalled defenseman Mikulas Hovorka for their final game of the regular season tomorrow night. The 24-year-old blueliner has seen his name on the transaction report a few times this past month, allowing him to skate in three games for the Panthers. Still, the Praha, Czechia native remains looking for his first NHL point, and he’ll seek to change that tomorrow evening against the Detroit Red Wings.
- With the postseason pool finalized, the impact of conditional draft picks traded this season is now clear. According to PuckPedia, now that the Los Angeles Kings have qualified for the 2026 Stanley Cup playoffs, the Toronto Maple Leafs will receive Buffalo’s 2026 second-round pick in the Scott Laughton trade.
- The Maple Leafs aren’t the only team in the Atlantic Division to reap the benefits of another team making the postseason. Since the Philadelphia Flyers made the playoffs, the Boston Bruins will receive the Red Wings’ 2026 fourth-round pick from the Anaheim Ducks in the trade that sent Jeffrey Viel to Orange County a few months ago (via PuckPedia).