- Steve Staios confirmed Brady Tkachuk requested the trade and pointed his no-move clause at one team
- The GM insists Ottawa won’t take a step back with the draft capital coming back
- Read below for Staios’s full comments, the return and the presser video
Steve Staios isn’t sugarcoating the Brady Tkachuk trade.
The Senators general manager met the media Monday, a day after sending his captain to the Florida Panthers, and laid out two things. Tkachuk asked to be traded, and Ottawa has no plans to rebuild because of it.
Staios said the request came about 10 days after the season ended. Tkachuk used his no-movement clause to hand over a short list of teams, and that list got thin in a hurry.
“Clearly, it was pointed at one team at the end,” Staios said. “I feel comfortable with the return given the circumstances.”
That one team was Florida, where Brady joins his brother Matthew.
The GM kept circling back to the idea that this isn’t a teardown.
“I don’t want anybody to be misled,” he said. “I think you see the transaction, the picks coming back, you wonder which direction the team is going. I want to be clear: I don’t intend on taking a step back with this group.”
Asked whether the trade request blindsided him, Staios said it didn’t.
“I think, as the year went on, for me, I could clearly see that Brady was a bit of a different player from the year before, so probably not overly surprised at that point.”
The haul backs up the talk. Ottawa landed the ninth and 25th picks in this year’s draft, a 2027 second-rounder and a top-10 protected first in 2029. Staios said the picks are already drawing “robust” interest, and his phone actually rang mid-presser.
Catch the full session from Staios:
Tkachuk had worn the C since 2021 and put up 22 goals and 59 points in 60 games this season. He has two years left at an $8.214 million cap hit. Owner Michael Andlauer wants to win now, and Staios plans to move some of that draft capital to make it happen.
