Tkachuk unbothered by trade rumours, learned of Rangers report from Staios
Published
Brady Tkachuk reaffirmed his desire to remain with the Ottawa Senators on Tuesday after the team shut down another round of trade rumours over the past week.
Tkachuk told Bruce Garrioch of Postmedia that he first learned of the most recent rumour, a report from Larry Brooks of the New York Post that the New York Rangers had circled Tkachuk as their "primary target," when general manager Steve Staios approached him to talk about it.
“It’s stuff I can’t control so it doesn’t really bother me,” Tkachuk said of media reports involving him.
Senators owner Michael Andlauer sounded off on Monday on the continued rumours surrounding Tkachuk, adding the report by Brooks could be considered "soft tampering," if his reporting came from a source within an NHL team.
“Here’s my frustration: I talk about how I care for these players, and I care for their families — you make a commitment to a team for six, seven years, you set roots in the community, you’re part of this community, there’s a lot of pressure on these young men,” Andlauer told TSN Hockey Insider Pierre LeBrun in The Athletic. “Yes, people might say they make millions of dollars, but the reality is there comes a responsibility with that.
“And when I see our captain, in the one year I’ve been here (as Senators owner), there’s been three separate occasions where there’s been fires we had to put out. I can tell you 100 per cent there’s never actually been an ounce of discussion about Brady Tkachuk being anything other than an Ottawa Senator.”
The Rangers rejected any notion of tampering in a statement to LeBrun on Monday.
“This is an irresponsible accusation and we defer to the commissioner’s office,” a spokesperson said.
TSN Hockey Insider Darren Dreger reported shortly after Brooks' report first surfaced on Friday that "there is nothing going on" between the Rangers and Senators.
As Andlauer alluded to, the Senators rejected trade rumours surrounding Tkachuk twice last season.
“Complete B.S.,’’ Senators general manager Steve Staios said in May of rumours at that time. “We are building this team around Brady. His leadership and unique skill set are rare.
“There is absolutely no validity to it.’’
The 25-year-old forward has 13 goals and 29 points in 27 games with the Senators this season while picking up 50 penalty minutes.
He is signed through the 2027-28 season at a cap hit of $8.2 million.