On this week's Wingmen podcast, Keith Tkachuk chirped the Senators for lack of resilience.
Ottawa Senators goalie Linus Ullmark has been taking some serious heat over the last few days for missing Saturday’s game against the Tampa Bay Lightning. According to head coach Travis Green, Ullmark needed rest and was unavailable to start.
Three days later, Ullmark was back in against Florida, but was pulled in the first period after giving up five goals, the first coming just eight seconds into the game.
The Senators went on to lose the game, 6-3.
Some fans have vented their frustration on social media, but for an old-school former NHL player like Keith Tkachuk, he doesn't have much time for any of this.
On Wednesday’s new episode of the Wingmen Podcast, hosted by his sons Brady and Matthew, the elder Tkachuk let the Senators have it with both barrels. While talking about his own playing days, including getting into an NHL fight not long after breaking his wrist at the Olympics, Keith took a detour to start chirping the Senators.
“That’s what happens, guys, you play through injuries,” Keith joked, as he then motioned to Brady.
"Holy Christ, (Brady's) whole team: ‘Oh, my pinky hurts. I’m out for 6–8 (weeks),’” Keith said, in a slightly higher-pitched, mocking voice.
It’s hard to say if the jab was directed at anyone in particular, but it sounded a lot like the injury Brady had in October. He had a thumb surgery, and the original prognosis was a 6–8 week absence.
Then, Keith seemed to take a hard run at Ullmark for his absence in Tampa Bay on Saturday.
“‘I just had a bad sleep, so I can’t play today.’ Oh my god... disgusting. ‘I can’t play back-to-back. Mismanagement.'”
One can imagine the Tkachuk household being one constant chirp fest, and having some ball-busting fun was almost certainly the intent here. But some of the comments in such a public forum won't be appreciated by all, especially the reference to this being a "whole team" issue.
Brady smiled and lightly chuckled at the comments and didn’t appear to take any of the jabs at his team very seriously, even though they briefly drifted from playful chirps to outright disgust. A good number of fans on social media didn't like that Brady didn't push back on the comments.
Later on, Keith had some advice for his boys, sounding very much like a minor hockey dad in the car on the way home from the game. After chirping Matthew for the strength of his shot, describing it as "the muffin issue," he had some guidance for Brady.
"I'm done with the whole tipping (pucks) thing," Keith said. "You gotta get lower, Brady. You're too straight up when you're standing in front. Get going!"
"What the hell did this conversation just turn into?" Brady laughed.
The discussion on the Senators happens at the 37:00 mark of this week’s Wingmen Podcast.
Steve Warne
The Hockey News
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