Senators owner Michael Andlauer aired out his frustrations regarding the rumors involving Brady Tkachuk and the Rangers.
The Ottawa Senators are not happy over the rumors revolving around Brady Tkachuk and the New York Rangers.
Last week, Larry Brooks of The New York Times reported the Rangers have made Senators forward Brady Tkachuk their primary target.
That led to frustrations within the Senators organization and Ottawa owner Michael Andlauer voiced his displeasure for this report to TSN’s Pierre LeBrun at the Board of Governors meeting.
“I can tell you Michael Andlauer did not hold back in his frustration and anger that the report was out there,” LeBrun said. “He called it soft tampering twice during this interview as far as what he considers the league should be cracking down on.
“He’s upset because it’s the third time since he’s been the owner of the Ottawa Senators that they’ve had to put out a fire concerning rumors around Brady Tkachuk and other teams being interested in him.”
According to Bruce Garrioch of the Ottawa Citizen, Senators general manager Steve Staios planned to have a conversation with Tkachuk to reiterate there is absolutely nothing to the recent speculation.
Andlauer also told LeBrun during their conversation the Senators have no plans to trade Tkachuk.
“Michael Andlauer made it clear to me the Senators have not spoken to one single team in the National Hockey League about Brady Tkachuk at any time,” LeBrun said. “He is their captain, he’s going to be their captain long term according to Michael Andlauer.”
Following these comments from Andlauer, the Rangers issued a statement denying any sort of tampering.
“This is an irresponsible accusation and we defer to the commissioner's office,” the Rangers said in a statement via Vince Z. Mercogliano of USA Today.
The Rangers traded Jacob Trouba to the Anaheim Ducks on Friday and New York general manager Chris Drury said that while he is still open to making other trades, he wants to let the dust settle after moving on from their captain.