OTTAWA — Brady Tkachuk couldn’t have expected the interaction that took place Tuesday afternoon in a playroom of the Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario.
It was the annual holiday hospital visit for Tkachuk and his Ottawa Senators teammates, an event that is anticipated by the patients just as much or more than Christmas Day.
As the players and children made drawings, played with toys and gave each other hugs, Tkachuk playfully tried to get the attention of a young girl. When she turned around to acknowledge the Senators captain, she immediately reached for his hospital mask, pulled it and snapped the strings back. After a brief look of shock, Tkachuk laughed it off and chuckled “Peekaboo!”
“I wasn’t sure what was going on for a second,” Tkachuk told The Athletic. “But, oh yeah, she ripped it right off the face. (I) was actually quite impressed with it, because she was laughing too. So, she definitely played a good joke on me.”
Sore ears aside, Tkachuk’s afternoon with the CHEO children appeared to be a more pleasant experience than addressing the Senators’ media contingent at the Canadian Tire Centre earlier in the day. Once again, Tkachuk had to fend off trade rumors and the perception that he wants out of the only city he’s known as an NHL player.
“It’s stuff that I can’t really control,” Tkachuk said. “I’m going to be honest. It doesn’t really bother me because it’s coming from a place where, obviously, it’s not true. I think it just speaks to the leadership that we have in this organization with Mr. (Michael) Andlauer and Steve (Staios) and how they have not just my back at this time, but the players through their time here and through the future.
“It’s happened multiple times now and obviously it’s just not true. It would just be a waste of energy to get frustrated with something I can’t control.”
On Friday, the New York Post’s Larry Brooks reported that the New York Rangers were targeting Tkachuk in a trade. The Senators first tried to shut down any talk of it online. Then, Senators owner Michael Andlauer suggested the Rangers were “soft tampering” and unequivocally shut down the validity of the rumor.
“I can tell you 100 percent there’s never actually been an ounce of discussion about Brady Tkachuk being anything other than an Ottawa Senator,” Andlauer told The Athletic’s Pierre LeBrun on Monday.
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The 25-year-old, and even his teammates, might tell you that trade talk is something they don’t notice or focus on. But the organization has had enough of its captain being mentioned in these rumors. At the very least, the notion of Tkachuk seeking to leave Canada’s capital isn’t coming from the team itself.
“I think it’s unfair to him,” Senators defenseman Thomas Chabot told The Athletic during the CHEO visit. “He’s put his heart and soul into this organization and he wants to be here. He wants to be an Ottawa Senator. Obviously, I get where you’re coming from asking the question. But, if I’m being honest, that question shouldn’t even be mentioned.
“I’m not disrespecting anybody that throws the rumor out there. But rumors are rumors, they’re gonna be there. They’re always going to be there. That’s part of sports and entertainment. But he wants to be an Ottawa Senator and that shouldn’t even be talked about.”
Yet even if the Senators proclaim from the highest mountaintops that Tkachuk’s future remains in Ottawa, they’re bound to refute more of these rumors down the line. The “logic” behind it is established.
The Rangers aren’t the only team linked to Tkachuk. His hometown St. Louis Blues have also been a popular potential destination. And remember how his brother Matthew Tkachuk wanted to leave a Canadian market to play in Florida?
Surely, his younger brother will eventually do that as well, right? Only because they’re the same person.
Except they’re not.
“The reason why I signed a seven-year deal is because I believe in this team,” Tkachuk said Tuesday. “I believe in what we’re doing. I believe in everybody. Not just everybody in this room but everybody in the building. We’re all pushing in the right direction. I signed here for seven years because I love playing here.”
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Tkachuk’s style of play is ideal for the postseason, and returning to the playoffs remains the Senators’ goal in the short term.
If Ottawa continues to underachieve, though, the questions will persist. The no-movement clause in Tkachuk’s contract kicks in on July 1, and it’s ultimately on the Senators to build a team that will prove Tkachuk right in committing and reaffirming his loyalty to the franchise.
In the meantime, Andlauer and the Senators have stepped up their public rebuttals as Tkachuk weathers the latest pressure point.
“I’d like to think we’ve tried to help him through some of it as well as a young guy. He’s a young captain,” Senators head coach Travis Green said. “When you’re a young player in the league and you haven’t gone through experiences or certain experiences, either individually as a team or as a captain, it’s not always easy.
“I think he’s been appreciative of the support he’s got from the organization.”
(Top photo of Brady Tkachuk: Troy Parla / Getty Images)
