The Brady Tkachuk era in Ottawa is over.

As first reported by TSN's Pierre LeBrun, the Senators' captain has been traded to the Florida Panthers for three first-round draft picks and a second-round pick.

The Sens get Florida's 9th overall pick on Friday, Tampa Bay's 25th overall pick on Friday, Florida's 2029 first-round pick, and Florida's 2027 second-round pick.

As a result of this deal, Ottawa currently hold three first-round picks in this year's draft:

- Florida's 9th overall
- Tampa's 25th overall selection is the pick the Panthers acquired from Seattle earlier today in the Mackie Samoskevich trade
- Senators' own pick at No. 32.

The Senators confirmed the deal a couple of hours after the news got out there.

“This was not a decision we took lightly, but ultimately we did what we felt was best for the long-term future of our hockey club,” GM Steve Staios said in a club press release. “We now possess cap space and draft capital and will be actively working to improve our roster.”

The Sens don't get a single active player in the trade, which is the kind of deal rebuilding teams make. But the draft is still five days away, so we're waiting for the other shoe to drop. One or all of those picks could easily be flipped in a deal for help between now and Friday, and frankly, I'd be shocked if they weren't.

Even the Senators' website story promises more, with the subheading "Senators make first trade of the offseason."

If they can't, the silver lining is a significant stockpile of draft capital to help refill a below-average prospect pool. The Sens also have some extra money ($8.2M) to work with this summer now that Tkachuk's contract is off the books.

Panthers GM Bill Zito takes on that money (and the massive raise that Tkachuk is due in two years as a UFA).

“Brady is a dynamic competitor and one of the most physical and relentless forwards in the league,” Zito said in a Panthers statement. “A proven leader and exactly the type of player we want in our locker room, he strives to make everyone around him better, both on and off the ice. We’re thrilled to welcome Brady to South Florida to join our group as we continue our pursuit of championship hockey.” 

While both the captain and the organization pushed back against questions about his future in Ottawa, sometimes emotionally, the trade happened all the same.

It's reasonable to speculate that Brady may have let the Senators know that he inevitably planned to sign with Florida in 2028 to play with his brother Matthew. Perhaps he flat-out asked for this trade the way Detroit captain Dylan Larkin did. If that's the case, the Sens did a fine job of keeping this in-house before making the trade.

But no matter how it happened, we do know that Brady has a no-movement clause and the right to stop this, so this is pretty clearly something he wanted.

As a result, the Sens opted to get what they could while they could. 

Tkachuk had 59 points in 60 games with the Senators last season. He failed to record a point in four playoff games as the Senators were eliminated in the first round. He's been with the Senators since 2018, when Ottawa drafted him 4th overall.

By Steve Warne
The Hockey News