TSN’s Pierre LeBrun reports the Ottawa Senators are close to trading Brady Tkachuk to the Florida Panthers.
Ottawa Senators trade Brady Tkachuk to the Florida Panthers. (NHL Images).
LeBrun believes the Senators will receive three first-round draft picks plus a second-round pick if the deal is finalized.
Earlier in the day, the Panthers traded forward Mackie Samoskevich to the Seattle Kraken in exchange for the No. 25 pick in the upcoming 2026 NHL Draft and a conditional second-round pick in 2027.
Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman reports the picks are the No. 9 and 25 selections in this year’s draft, a first-rounder in 2029, and a second-rounder in 2030.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Panthers general manager Bill Zito appeared to be setting the stage for something when he shipped out Samoskevich and got back that first-round pick as part of the return. Considering the Panthers are built to win now, it was apparent that he would use that pick, along with his own first in this year’s draft, as bait to bring in an established top-six forward.
The Senators now have three picks in the first round of this year’s draft, as they also held the 32nd overall selection. It’ll be interesting to see what GM Steve Staios intends to do with them. He’s either preparing for a roster retool or rebuild, or he’ll use them as bait to find a suitable replacement for Tkachuk.
Whatever Staios does, this feels like the end of an era in Ottawa. Tkachuk was the face of the Senators going back to when he was chosen fourth overall in the 2018 Draft. For the past eight seasons, he was their leader, part of the young group of promising players expected to turn the Senators into Stanley Cup contenders.
The Senators made the playoffs in each of the last two seasons, but they were eliminated from the first round both times. Meanwhile, trade rumors dogged Tkachuk throughout those seasons. Despite his denials and those of Staios, the speculation never went away, with a lot of it claiming he’d like to one day join his brother, Matthew, on the Panthers.
So now, the Tkachuk brothers are reunited in Florida at last. Having those two together could boost the Panthers’ hopes of staging another run at the Stanley Cup, provided they avoid another rash of injuries to their core players.
With Brady’s $8.205 million AAV through 2027-28 added to the Panthers’ ledger, PuckPedia indicates they have just over $7 million in projected cap space for next season, with 19 active roster players signed.
That won’t leave enough to re-sign or replace goaltenders Sergei Bobrovsky and Daniil Tarasov, meaning Zito likely isn’t done making moves, either through more trades or free agency.