Brady Tkachuk’s return to Ottawa with Panthers will be ‘fun game’ for Senators

OTTAWA -- Members of the Ottawa Senators will meet up with Brady Tkachuk for dinner on Tuesday, and there will be no hard feelings. Instead, it will be an opportunity to catch up while the Florida Panthers are in town.

There will be understanding and a reunion with an old friend.

But come Wednesday, fans may not feel quite the same way when the Senators host the Panthers -- the team from which Tkachuk requested and was granted a trade -- at Canadian Tire Centre (7:30 p.m. ET; Prime, SCRIPPS).

“I think guys in their careers, they’re open to do whatever they want to do,” said forward Drake Batherson, who entered the NHL at the same time as Tkachuk and played eight seasons with him. “It’s not going to change the relationship I have with him because he went somewhere else. We’re still going to be friends. And every player in the League is open to doing what they want.”

Tkachuk, the former Senators captain, will return here on a hot streak. The forward, who had no points in his first five games with Florida, has 10 (six goals, four assists) in the past four games, including natural hat tricks in consecutive games.

“It's going to be a fun game,” Ottawa forward Dylan Cozens said. “I'm sure there'll be a lot of emotion. I'm sure the crowd will be into it, and I'm sure they'll be into it, and we'll be into it. So, it'll be a good physical game, I'm sure.

“And you know it's a game we definitely need to show up.”

Florda (5-2-2) enters Canada’s capital city having won three in a row; Ottawa has won six of its first nine (6-3-0) without Tkachuk. In what is expected to be a heated Atlantic Division race all season, the two points at stake Wednesday could certainly matter for the Stanley Cup Playoffs.

“It’s obvious, there’s been a lot of chatter about it,” Batherson said. “There’s been chatter, I think, since the schedule came out, so I think it’s big game for both teams. Obviously, divisional game, so I think the competitiveness and all that will already be there because it’s a big game.”

But also, there’s more. So much more. As Senators defenseman Jake Sanderson said, “It'll be weird seeing him on the other side.”

He’s not the only one. For Tkachuk, it will certainly be a novel experience.

The No. 4 pick by Ottawa in the 2018 NHL Draft, Tkachuk spent his first eight seasons here, including five as captain, before asking for a trade after last season, hoping to play with his brother, Panthers forward Matthew Tkachuk. The trade happened on June 21, with three first-round picks in the NHL Draft (two in 2026 and a conditional in 2029), plus a second-round selection in 2027 going to Ottawa.

Tkachuk had 473 points (213 goals, 250 assists) in 572 games for the Senators. 

“I’m not going to try to speak for Brady, but I know any time a player has played in a city for a long time, and again, being captain of the team, there’s always some build-up to that first time back into building,” Ottawa coach Travis Green said.

It was something that Tkachuk admitted on Tuesday, speaking from Fort Lauderdale, Florida, that he will try to use the emotion to his advantage, that “it is going to be emotional both individually and in the building.”

“I just want to be able to channel that and use it in the right areas,” he continued. “It’s going to be special being back there. I spent eight great years there and have a lot of great memories. The city made me who I am. It’s going to be a special game.”

Which will make it special for everyone involved.

“Whenever there’s a game with a lot of emotion in the building, it’s exciting,” Green said. “When you play on a Wednesday night in October in your own building, it’s not always a lot of emotion. You can feel certain games that have kind of a feel to it, and this will be a real fun game to play in. As a player, you like playing in these games.”

Green was diplomatic in his answers Tuesday about Tkachuk’s return, but there was a moment on Monday that may have seemed more pointed.

The Senators coach signed a multiyear contract that day through the 2030-31 season, a move that displayed confidence in him and his leadership. He was asked about coaching in front of Ottawa’s fans, being approached at coffee shops or restaurants, and the warm reception he received in the home opener on Oct. 8, a 2-1 win against the Philadelphia Flyers.

“I’ve been on the other end where you can’t go get a coffee, you’re getting takeout and not going out for dinner,” Green said. “That’s one of the great things about coaching in Canada is people love their team and they’re passionate about it. You wouldn’t want it any other way.

“Players should feel blessed to play in Canada, and coaches should too.”

Two days before Tkachuk’s return, the comment felt directed.

But soon, the time for comments will be done. When the puck drops, the Senators will have to contend with the player, and the team, in what Batherson believes will be a “playoff-style type of game.”

And Tkachuk’s former teammates certainly know what to expect from him.

“Brady’s going to be Brady,” Batherson said. “He’s a great player, a physical player, so probably expect what we’ve seen for the last eight years.”