Over the past 24 hours, the Senators have been the talk of the NHL after trading away captain Brady Tkachuk to the Florida Panthers on Sunday. The Sens ended up with three first-round picks and a second in the deal.

GM Steve Staios held court with the media on Monday afternoon and fielded all the predictable questions.

Right out of the gate, he was reminded that less than two months ago, he described the possibility of trading his captain as nonsense.

So what changed?

"A trade request changed (things)," Staios said. "I think for me, I was always fully supportive and wanting to make it work long term. I think it became clear as the season went on this year that maybe something was amiss and had changed.

"But up until that point, I would have loved to have seen it through with Brady. I believe we have a very good team and we're moving in the right direction."

Staios says Tkachuk asked for a trade in his delayed exit meeting. This trade process was 3-4 weeks in the making, but Staios says there's no ill will toward the outgoing captain for wanting out.

"This is part of the process. The player had a no-move clause. We did what we needed to do in this transaction to give ourselves an opportunity to move forward with the group. I have no intention of this group taking a step back."

Going all the way back to Alexei Yashin, then Daniel Alfredsson, Jason Spezza and Erik Karlsson, the Senators continue to have issues with hanging onto not just their star players, but their captains.

"I'm not concerned," Staios said. "If you're alluding to the fact that you think people don't want to play in Ottawa, I don't think that's the case. I believe in this group that we have here that they're committed. (The Tkachuk case) was a unique situation. I think clearly, as you see where he was (traded) to, there's a connection there. And we did what we needed to do from our perspective."

Staios certainly had options. He could have forced Tkachuk to play one or two more years before making the deal. But there were already distractions this season, not to mention the fact that Tkachuk didn't play well this season. What kind of performance would he have had next season if Staios ignored his request?

All in all, Staios wasn't totally caught off guard by the trade request. 

"I think as the year went on, I could clearly see that Brady was a bit of a different player from the year before. So, probably not overly surprised at that point. Did I wish it was different and we could find a way to move forward? Of course. I mean, he's a good player. But that wasn't the case, and we've moved on."

Staios said that under the circumstances, he feels like I got the best deal that he could.

"The dynamic of a no-trade clause changes how the transaction works and how it's going to look. You know, clearly it was pointed at one team at the end. I think I feel comfortable with the return, with dealing with the circumstances that we did to get there.

"It's not like he was available to every team in the league. So that process sort of took hold as I went along with a number of teams. It was clearly pointed to one team at the end of it."

But in reality, it's probably not the end of it. Staios says he feels like the draft capital they now have opens up all kinds of interesting possibilities. When asked if he's had a lot of calls on his two new first-round picks, 9th and 25th overall this Friday, Staios' cell phone rang.

"How's that for timing?" Staios chuckled.

"It's been robust since the deal has happened. This team is moving in the right direction. I have no intention of this team taking a step back.

"We're active, and we're open."

By Steve Warne
The Hockey News