How and why Brady Tkachuk may have wanted to be traded from the Ottawa Senators
DLLS Stars: Julien McKenzie on the how and why the Ottawa Senators ended up trading Brady Tkachuk to the Florida Panthers this offseason.
** NHLRumors.com transcription
Host: “This team went through, I was just saying this, It almost went through like what the Buffalo Sabers went through, except for less, because the playoff drought wasn’t 14 years.
But I look back, January 24th, they’re in last place in the Atlantic, and then they have an insanely good record the rest of the year. Tied with the Sabres for best from January 25th to the end of the regular season. Make the playoffs, and then obviously get swept by Carolina, kind of have that whimper. And now you have Brady Tkachuk gone.
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What happened? Why did they feel, other, obviously, Tkachuk said he was not intending to sign an extension in two years. But how did this sort of nuclear explosion go off for Senators?”
McKenzie: “I feel as if there are still answers to be discovered as to what led to Brady Tkachuk deciding he didn’t want to stay with the team anymore. I’ve seen different podcasts in the last couple of days where, whether it’s from Steve Staois, or and I know he talked to us too in the media as well about it as well. But other players have spoken to saying how surprised they were about the fact that Brady Tkachuk got himself to that point.
But going back to Steve Staois, it seems as if it was something where, at least for more than a year, the idea of him leaving the team was anticipated. I think, I’m really just guessing at this point with how I describe it, but I think it’s a combination of spending a lot of time in one city. Maybe not achieving the same amount of success as your brother, who you know he, he plays in the Canadian market, and then he decides he wants to leave, and then he finds instant success in Florida.
I, I think it’s him looking at his contract situation. I think it’s, it’s this player empowerment era that we seem to be on the cusp of, if not firmly in already. Where a player decided he wanted to take control of his career and, and decide to, to find a way to to get to the city he really wanted to play in.
I still, well I still think that Brady Tkachuk will still, could still look back on his time in, in Ottawa with appreciation. Ultimately, I think just with where he was at with, with the responsibilities he had as a captain.
And I think you have to account for the politics stuff and all of this too. Playing for Team USA and the reception to him after the gold medal game and all that. Like, and also we, we can’t discount the fact that there was all that coming after the World Cup, not the World Cup, but the Four Nations tournament too. I have a hard time thinking that didn’t play a role into some of that.
I also think just, going back to Matthew, but we talk about a guy who’s won two Stanley Cups in Florida, and I guess because of that success, he can kind of go around and do whatever he wants. You guys have seen those live streams of him at the Elbow Room with the gold medal, hanging out, just doing whatever he wants. If Brady Tkachuk’s in Ottawa, he can’t breathe without somebody looking at him and be like, ‘Hey, what’s up?’
Patience … a trade will eventually happen for the Montreal Canadiens
Like, I definitely think there’s, it’s a combination of all these different factors that I brought up that may have led towards him wanting out, and now it’s on the Ottawa Senators to move on because it seems like Brady Tkachuk has already taken steps to move on from his previous employer too.”
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