Matthew Tkachuk and Brady Tkachuk are set to share an NHL locker room in South Florida, with the Panthers making another major offseason swing to bring the brothers together.
Florida and Ottawa completed the trade Sunday night, with the Panthers acquiring Brady Tkachuk from the Senators in exchange for a package of four draft picks.
The return for Ottawa includes the No. 9 selection in this year’s draft, Tampa Bay’s first-round pick this year — which Florida acquired earlier Sunday in a deal that sent Mackie Samoskevich to Seattle — the Panthers’ second-round pick in 2027 and a top 10-protected Florida first-rounder in 2029. For the Panthers, the move adds a high-end forward without costing them any of their top seven scorers from last season.
“Brady is a dynamic competitor and one of the most physical and relentless forwards in the league,” Panthers hockey operations president and general manager Bill Zito said. “A proven leader and exactly the type of player we want in our locker room, he strives to make everyone around him better both on and off the ice. We’re thrilled to welcome Brady to South Florida to join our group as we continue our pursuit of championship hockey.”
Brady Tkachuk leaves Ottawa after spending all eight seasons of his NHL career with the Senators. In Florida, he joins not only his brother, Matthew, but also an Olympic teammate and podcast co-host. Matthew Tkachuk has played the past four seasons with the Panthers, winning two Stanley Cups and reaching the final three times during that span.
The Athletic was the first to report that the trade was in the works.
Brady Tkachuk still has two seasons remaining on the seven-year, $57.56 million deal he signed in October 2021, when he was also named Ottawa’s captain. As recently as late April, he pushed back against speculation about his future after the Senators were eliminated in the first round of the playoffs.
“This was not a decision we took lightly, but ultimately we did what we felt was best for the long-term future of our hockey club,” Senators general manager Steve Staios said Sunday. “We now possess cap space and draft capital and will be actively working to improve our roster.”
It’s a move that makes sense for so many reasons and has seemed almost inevitable.
Matthew Tkachuk and Brady Tkachuk reveled in the chance to play alongside one another for USA Hockey at the 4 Nations Face-Off in 2025 (winning silver) and the Milan Cortina Olympics this year (winning gold, the first for the American men’s program on the Olympic stage since the miracle in Lake Placid 46 years ago).
Their parents — their dad is NHL legend Keith Tkachuk — have a home in Florida and are regular attendees at Panthers games, and the USA Hockey ties means Brady Tkachuk already has relationships with many in the Florida organization. Zito had a role within USA Hockey during this past Olympic cycle and Panthers equipment manager Teddy Richards had a role with the 4 Nations and Milan Cortina teams as well.
Brady Tkachuk was Ottawa’s captain for the last five seasons, and he was — by far in some cases — their leader in countless categories over his eight years with the Senators. No player had more goals (213), points (463), power-play goals (62), shots (2,202), hits (1,921), winning goals (28), multigoal games (30) and penalty minutes (821) in his tenure with the club, which acquired him with the No. 4 pick in the 2018 draft.
And now, four years after landing Matthew Tkachuk, the Panthers have tapped into the Tkachuk family well of talent again.
It also adds another big name to the list of players that Florida has locked up for several seasons going forward, including Aleksander Barkov, Aaron Ekblad, Sam Reinhart, Sam Bennett, Carter Verhaeghe, Gustav Forsling, Anton Lundell and others. They’re all Stanley Cup winners, and now Brady Tkachuk would figure to have a real chance to get his name etched onto hockey’s chalice in the coming years as well.
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AP Hockey Writer Stephen Whyno contributed to this report.
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