Brady Tkachuk is a Florida Panther. His ‘sole focus is the Stanley Cup’
Brady Tkachuk not once but twice saw up close the euphoria his brother Matthew felt after winning the Stanley Cup with the Florida Panthers. He then felt the rush of winning a gold medal at the Winter Olympics for the United States on the same team as his brother in February after getting silver at the 4 Nations Face-Off a year earlier.
But even he could only daydream about something like this ever becoming a reality: Brady and Matthew Tkachuk, brothers wanting simply to make the NHL, joining forces on an NHL team capable of winning championships.
That’s reality now, after Florida acquired Brady Tkachuk from the Ottawa Senators in a blockbuster deal Sunday that cost the Panthers four draft picks — including three first rounders — to complete.
“That’s been my goal every day that I’ve been in the NHL,” Brady Tkachuk said Tuesday during his introductory news conference at the War Memorial Auditorium in Fort Lauderdale. “Seeing it firsthand with Matthew and being around it, just to be part of a Stanley Cup-winning team is something that has always been my motivation. To be here, they have the pedigree. Every time playing them and after the game, it’s all about winning. There’s nothing about individuals or individual success. The sole focus in here is about excellence. ... Their sole focus is the Stanley Cup.”
Florida won the Stanley Cup in 2024 and 2025 after also making it to the Cup Final in 2023, an unprecedented three-year run of success for the franchise. The team’s core is intact and keeps building with star after star acquired by Panthers president of hockey operations and general manager Bill Zito.
Brady Tkachuk, an eight-year NHL veteran with 463 career points (213 goals, 250 assists) over 572 games who was the Senators’ captain the past five seasons, is the latest.
And Zito has shown no signs of slowing down that approach.
Why?
“Because we want to win,” Zito said. “That’s our job. That’s our mission. Winning is paramount. The manner in which we’ve been empowered to do it is to pursue excellence. The Violas allow us to spend to the cap and to do everything we can to be as good as we can be, and when a player of Brady’s stature, ability and most importantly character comes available, you do what you can to try to acquire players like that and fit them into the group.”
Now, Brady Tkachuk had a lot of say in this deal getting done. He had a no-movement clause in his contract, which has two years left and has an annual cap hit of just over $8.2 million.
A little less than two months ago, as the Senators’ season ended with a disappointing sweep by the eventual Stanley Cup champion Carolina Hurricanes in the first round of the playoffs, he expressed his frustration with the rumors being attached to his name. Questions once again came about his future with the Senators and if he was planning to request a trade out.
Tkachuk called the endless talk about his potential departure “frustrating,” adding that he has been “fully committed to this team, to the city.” Ottawa general manager and president of hockey operations Steve Staios at the time called the speculation “nonsense.”
And yet, here’s Tkachuk — in South Florida, with his new team, alongside his brother, just as many speculated would eventually be the case.
The Panthers sent three first rounders (the Nos. 9 and 25 picks this year, the latter of which was acquired earlier Sunday when Florida traded Mackie Samoskevich to the Seattle Kraken, plus a top-10 protected pick in 2029) plus a second-rounder in 2027 to Ottawa on Sunday to complete the deal.
The move not only unites the 26-year-old power forward with his brother; it gives Florida yet another top-caliber player on a roster littered with top caliber players as it looks to return to the Stanley Cup playoff conversation after missing the postseason entirely in 2026 following an injury-ravaged season.
So what changed between then and now?
“It wasn’t an easy decision,” he said. “It was something that I took a little bit more time than what’s been out there to make that decision It was a very hard decision. I think there’s a lot more things that go into it. But for me, I’m very thankful for what they’ve done for me, and not just as a player, but to mold me into the human that I am today and the person I am today.”
According to the Athletic, Brady Tkachuk presented the Senators with a four-team list he would be open to getting traded to: The Panthers, Minnesota Wild, Vegas Golden Knights and Carolina Hurricanes. However, the report added that Tkachuk only promised to waive the no-movement clause for the Panthers.
“At the end, I think it’s pretty clear, there was one team,” Staios said Monday at a news conference in Ottawa. “I feel like I got the best deal the Ottawa Senators could get under the circumstances. Would it have looked different with 31 teams involved? Absolutely.”
Zito broke down the process of striking the deal as follows: “Steve called, and you’re like ‘Boy, OK.’ And then, we’re actually going through it right now. You have lists, and you update them almost weekly, all 52 weeks of the year, where you know players who might become available — and even the guys who for sure are never going to become available — you rank them and you have reports and you talk about it. The familiarity with Brady was there. And then it ‘OK, he’s available. Well, now what do we do? How do we do this?’ And then it’s just a series of conversations and end up in making a deal. It’s that simple.”
And simply put: Brady Tkachuk’s acquisition gives Florida beyond enviable top-line forward depth.
The Panthers’ top nine forwards, in whatever order you want: Centers Aleksander Barkov, Sam Bennett and Anton Lundell, plus wingers Brady and Matthew Tkachuk, Sam Reinhart, Carter Verhaeghe, Brad Marchand and Eetu Luostarinen.
“Just so insane,” Brady Tkachuk said.
Also insane: The timing of it.
The trade was finalized on Father’s Day. The Tkachuk family was together in St. Louis. Matthew Tkachuk’s daughter was baptized that day. The reports of the trade being finalized came as they were taking family photos.
“Just couldn’t believe it,” Brady Tkachuk said. “I know I need a couple days after this to just regroup and really think about everything that has happened.
“I can’t believe it’s real. It’s amazing.”
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