The Ottawa Senators were part of what was probably the biggest move of the NHL offseason when they traded Brady Tkachuk to the Florida Panthers.
With Florida, Brady joins his brother Matthew on a Stanley Cup contender, and the Senators try to set up shop in a new era looking past their former No. 4 overall pick.
The trade itself was a big one. The Senators received three first-round picks and two second-round picks.
Two of the first-rounders were this year, and they used them on Keaton Verhoeff and Jonas Lagerberg Hoen.
The other first-round pick is in 2029, and the second-rounders are both in 2030.
So on the Ottawa side of things, it’ll be a long time until they fully know what it meant to the franchise to trade away Brady Tkachuk.
But down with the Panthers, Tkachuk finally seems like he’s getting comfortable.
Brady Tkachuk Hat Trick
Tkachuk entered Tuesday night having not yet scored a goal in his first six Panthers games. He changed that in a hurry.
He put a hat trick past the Columbus Blue Jackets, with all three goals being assisted in part by his brother.
Tkachuk added an assist for good measure.
Before that, it had been slow for Tkachuk with his new team. He went his first five games without a single point.
Tkachuk was doing his usual hitting, with 20 hits through five games, and he woke up further on Monday in Buffalo.
In an afternoon start against the Sabres, Tkachuk had an assist and dished out seven assists. That was a sign of what was to come.
Just a day later in Columbus, Tkachuk slotted home three goals — needing just four shots on goal to do it.
The Panthers have a lot of injuries at the moment, putting more importance on Brady and his brother to lead the charge — and in that 7-3 victory on Tuesday, they did that.
Senators Without Brady Tkachuk
The biggest irony here is up in Ottawa, though, where the Senators are off to a 5-2 start to the season.
They’ve scored 21 goals and given up 19, so that might suggest a bit of good fortune, but still — five wins in their first seven games is about as good as it can get for the Senators.
There will likely be times this season where they miss Tkachuk’s offense or his physicality, but the time had come to make a change, and so that’s what Ottawa did.
The best they can do now is simply try to win games without their departed star, and so far they’re doing a very good job of that.
Brady Tkachuk Heating Up Since Senators Trade To Panthers