The Ottawa Senators will spend most of the next month-and-a-half doing their homework and trying to figure out who best to pick at No. 32 in the 2026 NHL Draft. The draft lottery was held on Tuesday evening (May 5), and while the Senators knew exactly where they would be drafting thanks to having to pay to secure their first-round pick, they also learned that their rivals, the Toronto Maple Leafs, would be moving up to get the first overall selection.
Not the greatest news that Sens fans were hoping for, but what they need to do is concentrate on how to make themselves better not only with who they pick up in the draft but also in the other moves they make the rest of the summer. One of those moves may involve moving their captain Brady Tkachuk.
One insider believes that Tkachuk's future with the Senators is a little bit cloudy, and there could be plenty of speculation on whether he will still be the captain when the team comes together for training camp.
Will Tkachuk still be skating with the Senators next season?
NHL insider David Pagnotta recently spoke about the potential of Tkachuk looking for a new home for the 2026-27 season. Speaking with Daily Faceoff, Pagnotta said after a disappointing playoff run where the captain recorded no points in being swept by the Carolina Hurricanes, Tkachuk could be looking for a change of scenery. His brother did that moving from Calgary to Florida and has since had quite a run of success with the Panthers.
Pagnotta says, "there’s been a lot of talk around the league that suggests that conversations will happen this summer with the Senators involving Tkachuk. It doesn’t mean it’s going to happen, and it doesn’t mean he has walked in there and he’s trying to play everybody because he said he wants out. That’s not the case. But there is a strong belief across the league that those conversations will happen."
Drafted in the first round (No. 4 overall), Tkachuk has taken the Senators from playoff afterthoughts to playoff contenders during his time with the team. They've done a good enough job to build around him and have managed to put together back-to-back solid regular seasons that have resulted in two straight wild card berths; now it's about taking that team and getting over that first round hump.
A lot easier said than done, and you'd think it would be easier with Tkachuk still a part of the team. But depending on what they could get in a deal that involved Tkachuk, that pathway to the second round could get easier. GM Steve Staios, though, should be cautioned that sometimes making a deal just for the sake of making a deal doesn't always work out.
Pagnotta says, "His brother Matthew at the end of his last season in Calgary, there was trade chatter, and Brad Treliving at the time was the GM, and he said, 'It's not happening.' None of that’s true; we’re not trading him.” And then he got traded in August. So not saying it’s going to follow that same model or pathway, but I fully expect teams to reach out to the Sens."
The Flames received forward Jonathan Huberdeau, defenseman MacKenzie Weegar, forward prospect (at the time) Cole Schwindt, and a conditional first-round pick in 2025. The Flames haven't been to the playoffs since that trade. There could be plenty in play for the Senators this offseason, including on the trade front, but if teams are calling about Tkachuk, it's got to be a move that really moves the needle for the Senators.
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