The cheers, the boos and the circus: Senators preparing for Brady Tkachuk

Brady Tkachuk, then of the Ottawa Senators, warms up prior to playing a game against the Toronto Maple Leafs. Getty Images

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No date looms larger for fans of the Ottawa Senators than Oct. 21, when Brady Tkachuk makes his return.

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The Senators won’t even put tickets on sale to the general public for the 2026-27 campaign until Tuesday, but speaking to local media on Thursday at the Canadian Centre, club president Cyril Leeder noted that sales for the visit by the Florida Panthers are already “brisk”.

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After a trade request, Steve Staios, the club’s president of hockey operations and general manager, traded Tkachuk to the Panthers on June 21 in exchange for four draft picks, because he would only waive his no-move clause to play with his brother Matthew.

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Now, the Senators are preparing for the return of the former captain for the first time since he was dealt to the Panthers, and the expectation is that he won’t be welcomed back with open arms by what’s expected to be a packed house of more than 19,000 fans that night.

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What will the reception be like?

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“That’s going to be up to the fans,” Leeder said. “I don’t think it’s going to be 100 percent one way or the other. Everybody has their own view, their own opinion, and they’ll vote as they see fit when he returns.”

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Tkachuk will be honoured

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The Senators will give Tkachuk a proper welcome back with a video tribute at the first television timeout because that’s the right thing to do, especially for someone who wore the ‘C’ for five seasons and helped this club have a lot of success.

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Tkachuk’s return to Ottawa will be different than the one Alexei Yashin faced with the New York Islanders on Dec. 27, 2002, or when Dany Heatley came back with the San Jose Sharks on Dec. 2, 2010.

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“There is always going to be buildup to that game,” said former Ottawa defenceman Chris Phillips, who is now in a role as the club’s director of business development. “You can look at any moment in time in sports, and specifically with the Senators, where things have happened of you or things that have happened. Whether it’s guys leaving or events in a game. The next game is always a built-up attraction.”
Yashin and Heatley both asked to be moved, but Tkachuk’s departure wasn’t just about hockey.

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He became the centrepiece of a debate about politics on both sides of the border after appearing front-and-centre with United States president Donald Trump at the White House after winning a gold medal with Team USA at the Olympics.

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“We can all be honest with ourselves. There is just a lot going on in the world. (Both) politics and post-Olympics,” said Phillips, who had his No. 4 retired after suiting up for 1,079 games in his NHL career with the Senators. “It’s more than just a guy who just left the Sens and this will be his first game back.

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“Potentially, you’re going to have non-sports reporters here. It’s going to be as much a news story as a sports story. It’s a big deal. It’s going to be interesting to see how everything unfolds that night because there’s going to be a lot of hoopla around it.”
People threw jerseys on the ice when Heatley returned in 2010, and he was booed every time he touched the puck. There’s a sense Tkachuk could face similar treatment, perhaps even more.