Insider: Brady Tkachuk 'Checked Out' in Ottawa?

The Ottawa Senators have been mercifully put out of their misery this postseason, being swept by the Carolina Hurricanes in four straight. Aside from Linus Ullmark, who had been standing on his head, the team was not been up to the challenge this year.

Brady Tkachuk was held scoreless through the entire series, was a minus-4, and head coach Travis Green called his play "average" after Game 3.

What's up with the Senators' captain? Insider Frank Seravalli appeared on The Big Show with Rusic & Rose, and suggested, flat out, that Tkachuk doesn't look like he wants to be there.

I've never questioned his heart and his commitment to win and his compete level...but in some ways I can't help but feel like he's been a little bit checked out in Ottawa, and I don't know if that's post-Olympics or what...

The Senators were down 3-0 last year in the first round against the Toronto Maple Leafs and came back to win a couple of games to at least make it a series. But as Seravalli pointed out, the front office hasn't really done anything to push the program forward since then.

Is Brady Tkachuk questioning whether he can win with the Senators?

"It's almost the same exact roster, player for player, from last year's team," asked Seravalli. "Why have the Sens not done anything to try and improve since then?... Why (has) every other team around the league been pounding the pavement to try and improve, and the Sens have done very little?"

Then he brings it back to Tkachuk, using that lack of roster improvement as a possible explanation for the captain's... 'average' play.

"For Brady, I think it's him asking himself if he can win in Ottawa or not."

Tkachuk was met with some derisive comments and attitude when he arrived back in Canada's capital in February after playing a big part in Team USA's Gold Medal victory over Canada at the Olympics, followed by his visit to the White House with he and his American teammates.

It was uncomfortable, and unnecessary, but he insisted at the time that he still loves being the captain of the Senators, and all that off-ice stuff didn't bother him.

But what's happening now has some wondering otherwise.

Tkachuk, in his 8th season in Ottawa, recorded 22 goals and 59 points in 60 games this season.