There has been speculation in recent weeks about Brady Tkachuk and his future with the Ottawa Senators. The 26-year-old star forward has played his entire career in Ottawa and has two years remaining on his current contract, but a report from NHL Insider David Pagnotta indicated that the Senators could potentially move Tkachuk at some point this offseason. In the days since, there has been plenty of discourse regarding whether the Sens would actually trade their captain and, if so, where he might end up. On Wednesday, Tkachuk returned to Ottawa following the birth of his second child, a little girl name Lyla, and addressed the media [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V4CCr-pbYqk] since he wasn’t there earlier this week for the team’s formal end-of-season availabilities. When asked about the rumors, Tkachuk didn’t hold back on how he felt. “I wasn’t here for everybody’s meetings (on Monday), so I haven’t had the chance to talk to (Ottawa General Manager) Steve (Staios), but I feel like I’ve answered this hundreds of times, that…I feel like I’ve never shown (a desire to leave),” he 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 it’s just become a distraction, frustrating to deal with.” Tkachuk’s exasperation is understandable. Aside from the trade speculation, Tkachuk and the Senators were just knocked out of the first round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs for the second year in a row, both times falling behind three-games-to-none. Last season they fought back and lost to the Toronto Maple Leafs in six games. This year, Ottawa was swept by the Carolina Hurricanes. It’s not all doom and gloom, as the Senators did battle back during the second half of the season just to make the playoffs despite holding a 6% chance of qualifying for the postseason as recently as January. “Everything is very dampened by how the playoffs went, but I think in the grand scheme of things, there’s a lot that we dealt with as a group and how we handled the adversity, I was really proud of that,” Tkachuk said. Still, it’s worth mentioning that Brady has had a front-row seat for his brother Matthew’s three straight Stanley Cup Final appearances with the Florida Panthers over the past three years that included back-to-back championships. When the Panthers were celebrating in their home locker room, spraying champagne everywhere and drinking ice cold beer from the Cup, Brady was there. “The fact that we made up all that ground and got into this position was good, it was a goal to get in the playoffs, but at the end of the day we didn’t get what we truly wanted, and that’s the Stanley Cup,” he said. “Obviously that does dampen it. That is frustrating for me because all I want to do is win the Stanley Cup.” Which begs the question of whether Tkachuk believes that he can obtain his ultimate goal in Ottawa. The Senators have seen their regular-season point total increase in each of the past two seasons, reaching the playoffs both years. There is hope and belief within the organization that Ottawa will continue to ascend in the Eastern Conference, but Tkachuk will likely need to be a big part of that plan for it to come to fruition. “For me, I just want to talk to Steve (Staios), and I know we’re going to talk – he just left to go to U18s – just to talk about our normal conversations usually at the end of the year about our team and what he thinks, what he thinks of my own game,” Tkachuk said. “I've always believed in this team, I've always believed playing for this city, and this city has always been good to me. I don't really know what else to say other than what I've said countless times, and I just always still have to answer to it. All that stuff is just a distraction.” As for Staios, he was asked earlier this week about Tkachuk’s future. His answers were not that dissimilar to what Tkachuk said a couple days later. “It’s nonsense,” said Staios. “I don’t read it and don’t bother with it. We know what we have internally. We have great communication with our players, so we really don’t focus on it. This comes up very often. There’s nothing that we have talked about, or thought about, where that conversation should happen.” The plan for Tkachuk in the immediate future is to spend some time at home his wife and two children. He won’t be participating with the United States at the 2026 Men’s World Hockey Championships [https://www.iihf.com/en/events/2026/wm], which take place next month in Switzerland, despite the possibility of his brother joining the team and helping the U.S. defend their gold medal. As for how things play out with Tkachuk and the Senators, it seems both sides have put their cards on the table for everyone to see. We’ll see what happens from here. “Honestly, I don’t get why it’s a consistent thing,” Tkachuk said. “It’s happened so many times, personally, and it’s frustrating. 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