A Frustrated Brady Tkachuk Meets Media, Addresses Trade Rumors

The Brady Tkachuk rumors have been all-enveloping around the Ottawa Senators the past couple of months. And the captain, coming out swinging now that their season is over, has had enough of it.

Tkachuk met the media for his end-of-season address on Wednesday, and said he's sick and tired of the trade rumors and the talk of his future. He called it a "distraction"... But did he really confirm that his future will remain in Ottawa? Or did he dance around it? Watch:

Brady Tkachuk clears the air about his future with the Senators, claiming that trade rumours are "becoming a distraction." pic.twitter.com/kwTMicmqrf
— TSN (@TSN_Sports) April 29, 2026

The question posed was that "There's been a lot of discourse regarding your future... Is that a discussion you plan to have with (GM) Steve Staios this summer?"

"I feel like I’ve answered this hundreds of times,” Tkachuk said. “I feel like I’ve never shown, I've never said, none of those things ever came out of my mouth (about wanting to leave), and quite honestly, it’s just getting frustrating. It’s become a distraction."

'I have been fully committed...' Brady Tkachuk said

"I have been fully committed to this team, to this city, and it's just become a distraction, frustrating to deal with."

He talks a lot about things he has said in the past, using terms like "I have been", "I've never said, never shown..."

None of that precludes that he could be thinking those things in the present, or might take it to the front office this summer.

He has two years remaining on his contract at an $8.2 million AAV.

Tkachuk faced a strange barrage of hate from some quarters in the Canadian capital after he won the Gold Medal at the Olympics with Team USA and made a trip to the White House with his teammates to celebrate. It was obviously annoying for him, and he acknowledged the "hatred" that exists between hockey fans of the two countries.

The Senators captain finished the year with 22 goals and 59 points in 60 games, though he was shut out in all four playoff games as Ottawa got swept by the Carolina Hurricanes in the first round.

“You want to be a playoff player, and for me it wasn’t good enough,” Tkachuk said of his poor performance in the playoffs. “I don’t think anybody is more frustrated with how everything went than me. At the end of the day, I didn’t play good enough.”