Tkachuk trade rumours will only intensify if Senators can't get it right next year

OTTAWA -- You’d do well to recall the old saying that “idle hands are the devil’s workshop.”

And who has more time on their hands than the fans of teams that are not Edmonton or Florida right about now?

We say this as a runup to the rumours that have been circulating about Ottawa Senators captain Brady Tkachuk being on the trade market. The Sens haven’t played a game for nearly two months, and haven’t played a playoff game in seven years.

So, if you are outside of the Ottawa market and want to stir up a little road dust, why not start or feed a rumour about the Senators captain being up for grabs?

The mill needs grist. Podcasts have air time to fill, and can’t just talk about Connor McDavid all day (although the Oilers captain has earned the privilege). 

Columnists have thumb-suckers to write. 

What armchair GM wouldn’t find a spot for Tkachuk in an off-season lineup, from Toronto to Jersey to the west coast of Los Angeles?

Poor Senators GM Steve Staios. He can’t kill this chatter with a sledge hammer. In a chat with Pierre LeBrun of The Athletic, Staios used the term “complete B.S.” to describe the trade rumours.

“We are building this team around Brady,” Staios said. “His leadership and unique skill set are rare. There is absolutely no validity to it.”

Certainly not. At least from where Staios sits. 

That didn’t stop a New Jersey Devils podcast from airing a piece titled “Brady Tkachuk trade rumours won’t go away!”

Or prevent Bleacher Report from posting “Five dream trade landing spots for Senators captain Brady Tkachuk.”

Remarkably, Florida wasn’t one of the cited trade destinations for Brady, the Panthers being the home of his brother Matthew, thriving in all these playoff games under the brightest of lights.

Of course, the trade chatter is endlessly annoying for Senators fans who want nothing more than for their team to be a winner, with No. 7 Tkachuk as the driving force. 

But they also have more than enough awareness to understand that it is this long and agonizing push to be a playoff contender that has fuelled the Tkachuk rumours.

Tkachuk will turn 25 in September. Still young, but hockey careers pass quickly and he is beyond desperate to be in the Stanley Cup Playoffs. 

He has spent six full seasons in Ottawa, played 440 NHL games – nearly halfway to 1,000 games! – and he has yet to have a sniff of the post-season. 

This is why an analyst like Ryan Whitney would toss out a nugget like he did in February, that Tkachuk could be moved at the trade deadline. 

Preposterous, right?

Sure. From the viewpoint of anyone buying Senators tickets or employed by the organization.

But an ex-player like Whitney knows what drives a competitor like Tkachuk. The young man wants to win. He is sick of the losing. 

And he’s not alone. Did you note the facial expression of Claude Giroux late in the season, watching another year go by without a shot at the Stanley Cup?

When reporters gathered around and told Giroux we had voted him as Ottawa’s Masterton Trophy nominee, it was all he could do to put on a brave face. That’s how crushed he was at the grim reality of missing the playoffs again, as he had in his first season with the Sens the year before.

Giroux is 36 and doesn’t have the luxury of time afforded to the 24-year-old captain. 

But don’t underestimate the fiery concoction that is comprised of A) Tkachuk’s desire to win and B) His frustration with this team’s progress. 

Of course there is nothing imminent as far as moving Tkachuk or him demanding a trade. 

Only a fool would be complacent, though. 

I give it a year. No more. 

If the Senators are not a playoff team in the spring of 2025, would you blame Tkachuk for wanting to move to a contender? Oh, how he must be living vicariously through his brother’s experience into a Stanley Cup Final for a second straight season. 

You know Tkachuk will do his part to lead the Senators where they need to go. He is coming off a season in which he scored a career-high 37 goals, with as many assists – for 74 points in 81 games played.

I would be shocked if he doesn’t score 40 or more next season, on a contract that pays him a team-friendly $8.2 million (AAV) through the 2027-28 season. Tkachuk was the fourth-overall pick in the 2018 NHL Draft.

He carries this club with his physical play and has to be watching the playoffs and salivating at the prospect of wreaking havoc in the four-round dance that is the prelude to the Cup. 

Tkachuk can’t do it alone, though. Nor with just Jake Sanderson, Tim Stützle and a few others. 

It will take a revamped group, with better goaltending than the Senators had last season. 

This Tkachuk trade talk may be “B.S.” as Staios says, but it is another pressure point for management as it tries to take a massive step forward from a difficult first season for Staios and his boss, new Senators owner Michael Andlauer. 

The Sens have to get it right this summer. Priorities include:

• Adding a big piece on the blueline in the form of a right-shot defenceman who can play in the top four. 

• Bolstering the goaltending position. 

• Bringing in veteran help for the bottom-six forward group. 

When Whitney tossed out that stink bomb about a potential Tkachuk trade at the March deadline, Staios reacted then, as well. 

He said at the time, as now, that the Sens are building around Tkachuk and his leadership. 

“He means everything to the organization,” Staios said. “And he brings it every night along with our core group of players.

“It’s a matter of time and a matter of nurturing this group."

Time is running out. Tkachuk and the core need to be part of a thriving team next season or things could spiral in a lot of different directions very quickly.