The Ottawa Senators’ season ended Saturday night with a 4-2 loss to the Carolina Hurricanes, completing a four-game sweep in the first round. The loss has raised questions about the future of captain Brady Tkachuk with the organization.
During an appearance on Hello Hockey, Daily Faceoff’s David Pagnotta weighed in on the possibility of the Senators exploring a trade for Tkachuk in the offseason.
“I think there’s a good chance the Sens explore trading Brady Tkachuk this summer,” he said.
Brady Tkachuk is signed through the 2027-28 season on a seven-year deal worth $57.56 million that carries an $8.205 million cap hit. He will earn $10.5 million this season, $8.5 million in 2026-27 and $7 million in his final contract year.
The deal includes a full no-movement clause that kicked in last summer, giving Tkachuk complete control over any potential trade. The earliest Ottawa could extend Tkachuk is July 2027 and the franchise faces a critical two-year window to either convince him to stay long-term or cash in on his trade value while they still can.
Earlier on Friday, insider Frank Seravalli had also suggested that even though Tkachuk has his heart in Ottawa, the player seemed pretty “checked out” in the later half of th season.
Brady Tkachuk gets candid on Senators’ ‘heartbreaking’ playoff exit
Brady Tkachuk was held pointless through all four playoff games against Carolina. The captain finished the series with zero goals and zero assists.
Following Saturday’s elimination, Tkachuk spoke about the pain of another early exit. When asked how this compared to last year’s elimination against the Toronto Maple Leafs, Tkachuk said:
“I mean, it’s kind of the same, just heartbreaking. You want to just win the Stanley Cup and everyone believed that here, and for it to be this tight of a series and not go our way. Every game, it’s really tough.”
The 2025-26 season started with expectations after Ottawa broke an eight-year playoff drought the previous season. The Senators finished 44-27-11 to grab the second Eastern Conference wild card spot.
Brady posted 22 goals and 37 assists for 59 points in 60 regular season games, but couldn’t produce when it mattered most in the postseason.
Head coach Travis Green had previously addressed the team’s performance after Game 3 where he said there were a lot of players in the series who were probably average, and that in the playoffs, the highest-paid players can’t be average.
Edited by Anjum Rajonno
