The NHL’s Panthers, winners of the 2024 and 2025 Stanley Cups, are eagerly reloading after an unexpected retreat this past season, while the Senators are showing the heightened difficulty many of the league’s seven Canadian teams are having trying to compete.
Ottawa and Florida have completed a massive trade in which the Senators have dealt team captain Brady Tkachuk to the Panthers for a package of four draft picks. Two of those selections will be first-rounders in this weekend’s NHL draft in Buffalo, including the Nos. 9 and 25 picks. Ottawa will also receive a 2029 first-round pick that is top-10 protected, as well as a second-rounder next year.
Far from a standard offseason NHL trade, this particular deal is rife with far-reaching subplots. The Panthers are bringing together Tkachuk with his older brother, Matthew, who is already on the Florida roster. The franchise is also looking to get back to its winning ways after a budding NHL dynasty saw a series of injuries this past season result in Florida’s first non-playoff year since 2019.
“Brady is a dynamic competitor and one of the most physical and relentless forwards in the league,” said Panthers GM and hockey operations president Bill Zito. “A proven leader and exactly the type of player we want in our locker room, he strives to make everyone around him better.”
