Senators Trade Brady Tkachuk to Panthers, Reunite
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- Ottawa Senators traded captain Brady Tkachuk, 26, to the Florida Panthers on Sunday, with Brady exercising his no-trade clause to approve the destination where brother Matthew already plays.
- Ottawa received the Panthers' No. 9 and No. 25 first-round picks in Friday's draft (the No. 25 coming from Seattle via the Mackie Samoskevich trade earlier Sunday), plus a top-10-protected 2029 first-rounder and a 2027 second-round pick.
- Brady Tkachuk carries an $8.2 million cap hit on a seven-year deal running through 2028; Senators GM Steve Staios said the return of cap space and draft capital lets Ottawa "actively work to improve" a roster that lost in the first round each of the past two playoffs.
- Bill Zito has now traded massive hauls for both Tkachuk brothers — Matthew from Calgary in July 2022, and now Brady — betting on a Panthers window the GM calls "now," even though Florida missed the playoffs this season after back-to-back Stanley Cups.
- Panthers captain Aleksander Barkov is expected back from right knee surgery that cost him the 2025-26 season, adding to a Panthers group that Zito helped manage to gold with the Tkachuks at the 2026 Milan Olympics.
- The Tkachuk brothers, who launched a podcast together last season and won Olympic gold with Team USA, were described by sources as the emotional throughline; Ottawa had publicly insisted Brady was committed as recently as April before talks accelerated after his return from the Olympics.
- Brady Tkachuk had said as recently as April, after Ottawa's season ended, that he was committed to the Senators — a position sources say shifted in the weeks that followed.
Why it matters: Ottawa surrenders a 26-year-old captain and power forward still under contract for three more seasons, gambling that three first-round picks (one in this year's draft at No. 9), cap relief, and a longer rebuild will outpace whatever window Brady provides; Florida, conversely, doubles down on the present despite a first-round playoff exit this spring, trusting Zito's track record of swinging blockbuster deals for star forwards.
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