Tkachuk committed to Senators, ‘frustrated’ by rumors of desire to be elsewhere 

Brady Tkachuk said he’s “fully committed” to the Ottawa Senators and talk of him wanting to play elsewhere is frustrating.

“I feel like I’ve answered this hundreds of times,” Tkachuk said Wednesday. “I feel like I’ve never shown, never said, none of those things have ever come out of my mouth, and quite honestly it’s just getting frustrating. It’s becoming a distraction. 

“I have been fully committed to this team, to this city and (the talk), it’s just become a distraction. Frustrating to deal with.” 

Tkachuk, who missed the Senators’ end-of-season availability Monday due to the birth of his daughter, Lyla, held a press conference three days after they were swept in the Eastern Conference First Round by the Carolina Hurricanes. 

The 26-year-old forward and captain is signed for two more seasons with Ottawa. He said he plans to have his usual postseason talk with general manager Steve Staios, who is currently at the U18 World Championships in Slovakia.   

Tkachuk had 59 points (22 goals, 37 assists) in 60 regular-season games but was held off the score sheet in four Stanley Cup Playoff games. The Senators have qualified for the playoffs each of the past two seasons but have been eliminated in the first round, including a six-game loss to the Toronto Maple Leafs a year ago.

“For me, I just want to talk to Steve and I know we’re going to talk, just to talk about our normal conversations at the end of the year about our team and what he thinks, what he thinks about my own game,” Tkachuk said. “For me, it’s just having those conversations about our team and where we can improve, where I can improve. All that other stuff is just a distraction.

“At the end of the day, I didn’t play good enough. I tried to do everything in my power to get my game going and make an impact. It’s just felt nothing was going, nothing was going in, nothing was going my way. I have to live with that. That’s what’s tough. As a player I believe I could be that guy, and I always pride myself on that. And when it doesn’t happen, it’s a big shot in the confidence.”  

On Monday, Staios labeled the talk of Tkachuk playing elsewhere next season as “nonsense.” 

“I don’t read it. I don’t bother with it,” Staios said. “We know what we have internally. We have great communication with our players, so we really don’t focus on it. I mean, this comes up very often. There's nothing that we have talked about or thought about where that conversation should happen.”

Selected by the Senators with the No. 4 pick in the 2018 NHL Draft, Tkachuk was named captain Nov. 5, 2021, at the age of 21 and, according to forward Tim Stutzle, is taking “tremendous steps as a leader.” 

“He became a captain very young, and I think that's hard for anyone, becoming captain in a Canadian market,” Stutzle said. “And I feel like he puts a lot of pressure on himself, like we all do. And I feel like I can relate with him in a lot of ways, that way, and that he wants to win too. He cares.”