Tkachuk commits to Senators with 2 seasons left — Nhl Streaming

Brady Tkachuk said Wednesday that he is fully committed to the Ottawa Senators, and the nhl streaming chatter around his future has become a distraction. The captain said rumors that he wants to play elsewhere are frustrating. He still has 2 seasons left on his contract.

Tkachuk and Ottawa

“I feel like I’ve answered this hundreds of times,” Tkachuk said at a press conference.

He added, “I feel like I’ve never shown, never said, none of those things have ever come out of my mouth, and quite honestly it’s just getting frustrating. It’s becoming a distraction.”

He also said, “I have been fully committed to this team, to this city and (the talk), it’s just become a distraction. Frustrating to deal with.”

Those comments came three days after Ottawa was swept by the Carolina Hurricanes in the Eastern Conference First Round, and they followed a season in which Tkachuk posted 59 points in 60 regular-season games.

Staios and Stutzle

General manager Steve Staios called the idea that Tkachuk would play elsewhere next season “nonsense” on Monday.

Staios also said, “I don’t read it. I don’t bother with it,” and added, “We know what we have internally. We have great communication with our players, so we really don’t focus on it. I mean, this comes up very often. There's nothing that we have talked about or thought about where that conversation should happen.”

Tim Stutzle said Tkachuk is taking “tremendous steps as a leader,” and he added, “He became a captain very young, and I think that's hard for anyone, becoming captain in a Canadian market.”

Tkachuk was named captain at 21, and his role has only grown since the Senators selected him with the No. 4 pick in the 2018 NHL Draft. Ottawa has reached the playoffs in each of the past two seasons, but the team has been knocked out in the first round in back-to-back years.

Lyla and the next conversation

Tkachuk missed the Senators' end-of-season availability on Monday because of the birth of his daughter, Lyla.

He said he wants to talk with Staios about the team and his own game, including “where we can improve, where I can improve,” rather than the outside noise.

The unresolved piece is whether Ottawa keeps that conversation focused on the captain’s game and the roster, or whether the rumour cycle keeps pushing his name into a future that he said he has not put on the table.