Brady Tkachuk is heading to Florida, where he will join his brother Matthew with the Panthers in one of the NHL's biggest offseason moves.
The Ottawa Senators are trading their captain to the Panthers for a package of draft picks, the teams announced Sunday. Ottawa will receive Florida's two first-round picks in this year's draft -- No. 9 and No. 25 overall -- along with a first-round pick in 2029 that is top-10 protected and a second-round pick in 2027.
Florida had acquired the 25th pick earlier Sunday
in a trade sending forward Mackie Samoskevich to the Seattle Kraken.
The deal gives Florida another top-tier power forward and reunites the Tkachuk brothers in the NHL. Brady, 26, and Matthew, 28, helped Team USA secure Olympic gold earlier this year, and now they aim to bring more hardware to the Panthers after Florida missed the playoffs following consecutive Stanley Cup wins.
"Brady is a dynamic competitor and one of the most physical and relentless forwards in the league," Panthers general manager Bill Zito said. "A proven leader and exactly the type of player we want in our locker room, he strives to make everyone around him better both on and off the ice. We're thrilled to welcome Brady to South Florida to join our group as we continue our pursuit of championship hockey."
The move is a major shift for Ottawa, which selected Tkachuk fourth overall in 2018 and made him the face of its rebuild. He spent eight seasons with the Senators and served as captain for the past five.
Tkachuk had pushed back on questions about his future as recently as April, when trade speculation followed Ottawa's first-round playoff exit.
"I feel like I've answered this hundreds of times," Tkachuk said at the time. "None of that, I feel like I've never shown, I've never said, none of those things ever came out of my mouth. And quite honestly, it's just getting frustrating. It's becoming a distraction, because I have been fully committed to this team, to the city and it's just becoming a distraction and frustrating to deal with."
Tkachuk had 22 goals and 37 assists in 60 games last season. Ottawa reached the playoffs for a second straight year, but was swept by the eventual Stanley Cup champion Carolina Hurricanes in the first round. Tkachuk was held without a point in the series.
For his career, the four-time All-Star has notched 213 goals and 250 assists across 572 regular-season games. He's added four goals and three assists in 10 career postseason games.
He has two years remaining on his contract at an $8.2-million cap hit, giving Florida more than a short-term rental. The Panthers already have a core led by Matthew Tkachuk, Aleksander Barkov, Sam Reinhart, Sam Bennett, Carter Verhaeghe, Gustav Forsling and Anton Lundell.
For Ottawa, the return adds three first-round picks and another future second to a franchise that now has to replace its captain while continuing to build around its young core.
"This was not a decision we took lightly, but ultimately we did what we felt was best for the long-term future of our hockey club," Senators general manager Steve Staios said in a statement. "We now possess cap space and draft capital and will be actively working to improve our roster."
--Field Level Media
