Training camps are mere days away for all 32 teams in the NHL now as we enter the second week of September. The upcoming season comes with an added sense of anticipation for Canadian teams, some of which will have fans in the stands for the first time since March of 2020. One team with signs of promise this year is the Ottawa Senators, who seemed to catch lightning in a bottle at the end of last season and went on an unexpected run to finish 23rd in the league. A huge reason for that success was Brady Tkachuk, who remains without a contract heading into the 2021-22 campaign. TSN’s Shawn Simpson now reports that Tkachuk won’t travel back to Ottawa until a contract is done and that no progress has been made since it was reported that the team and player were at a deadlock. The 21-year-old American has been the epitome of consistency since breaking into the league with Ottawa, making himself an integral part of the team and a potential candidate for the captaincy. His importance on and off the ice can’t be understated, and this situation dragging out into the camp and the season will surely negatively affect the team’s performance.
More from around Canada:
- An additional report from Shawn Simpson regards the future of prospect Logan Brown. While he’s been involved in many trade discussions recently, he won’t be returning to Ottawa this season no matter what. If a deal can’t be reached, it’s likely the 23-year-old will play the season in Sweden and continue his development there. Drafted 11th overall in 2016, Brown’s only received limited looks at the NHL level, scoring nine points in 30 career games (only played in one game this season). More ice time in a professional setting could do wonders to spark his career moving forward.
- The Edmonton Oilers announced this morning that they’ve signed forward Tyler Tullio to his entry-level contract. Tullio, a fifth-round selection of the team in 2020, was one of many players affected by the OHL’s shutdown last season due to COVID-19. He’ll be returning to the Oshawa Generals this season in all likelihood, looking to build on his 66 points in 62 games that he scored during his draft year. He did show immense promise on loan overseas this season, scoring 13 points in 19 games with HK 32 Liptovsky Mikulas in the Slovakian Extraliga. Per PuckPedia, the three-year entry-level deal has a cap hit of $843,000.
Why would the Senators drag this out so much with Tkachuk? They have a lot of cap space, he is a young key piece, and they want to build up to relevancy. Seems like a bad play to go this route.
Yup. The only conceivable answer is that this is Melnyk being Melnyk.
Any other young player might cower in fear of the owner and GM and capitulate to their salary offering. Brady isn’t one of those guys. Mean Gene and GMPD should revisit the history of a strong backbone that defines the name Tkachuk. Love ’em or hate ’em, “feisty” is in their DNA.
Get him signed. This is a player with no comp in the league. Whatever it is, it will turn out to be a bargain.
It’s tough to handle Logan Brown any more poorly than Ottawa did. It’s still incredible that Otttawa didn’t expose him in the Expansion Draft. Best of luck in Sweden Logan.