Senators GM Responds to Brady Tkachuk Trade Rumors Making the Rounds

Brady Tkachuk is the heart and soul of the Ottawa Senators. The captain, the team's hardest worker, and the face of the franchise right now. Not to mention under contract for four more years. Yet, rumors have suddenly been surfacing in recent days that the Senators may be shopping him this season in an attempt to fill the many other roster needs the team has.

As Sens GM Steve Staios told Pierre LeBrun in The Athletic, forget about it.

Complete B.S.
We are building this team around Brady. His leadership and unique skill set are rare... Certainly, Brady is the leader that we need in this room. He is everything as advertised, and I’m just looking to do my best to support him.
There is absolutely no validity to it.

Where, then, does this kind of stuff originate? Recently, a show description from 101 ESPN Radio in St. Louis blared "If the Ottawa Senators' Brady Tkachuk is being made available in Ottawa, why a big move like that wouldn't be completely out of the question and what kind of haul the Senators could get for Brady." Then they threw around the names Pavel Buchnevich and Jordan Kyrou as potential trade bait to get it done for the Blues.

Clearly, it's all just wild speculation. Good for headlines, but not good for business for the Ottawa Senators.

Tkachuk, 24, put up another strong season for the Sens this year, with 37 goals and 74 points in 81 games, while handing out punishment to the tune of 294 hits. It was his third straight 30-goal season, and fifth time in six years in the NHL playing over 70 games. His 7-year, $8.2 million cap hit deal runs through the 2027-28 season.

There was a similar rumor about the possibility of a Tkachuk trade back before the trade deadline, floated by Spittin' Chiclets, but then, like now, it was quickly shot down by Staios.