Ottawa Traded Its Captain and Insists That Isn't a Rebuild

Ottawa went 44-27-11 last season, finished fifth in the Atlantic and lost in the first round. That is the record of a team on the way up, which is what made June 21 so jarring. The Senators traded Brady Tkachuk to Florida.

The return was picks: the No. 9 and No. 25 selections in the 2026 draft, a conditional first-rounder in 2029 and a second-rounder in 2027. Tkachuk had captained the team for five seasons and left as the fifth-leading scorer in franchise history with 463 points in 572 games. He was the player the market used to identify the Senators. In Ottawa, he was more than that.

Steve Staios did not take long to say what he thought the deal meant. “I don’t intend on taking a step back,” the general manager said, and then spent two days proving it.

Eklund arrives 48 hours later

On June 23 the Senators sent the freshly acquired No. 9 pick to San Jose for William Eklund, also picking up the rights to Kasper Halttunen and Brandon Svoboda in the deal. Eklund is 23 and put up 53 points in 78 games last season, 15 goals and 38 assists, on a Sharks team that gave him very little to work with. He is not Tkachuk and does not play remotely like him. He is a genuine top-six forward with years of cost-controlled prime ahead of him, acquired for a lottery ticket that would not have played an NHL game for three seasons.

Ottawa kept adding around the edges from there. Andre Burakovsky came from Chicago on June 26 for a 2027 sixth-round pick, bringing 33 points in 75 games and a Stanley Cup ring from Colorado. The same day the Senators picked up goaltender Samuel Ersson from Toronto for a 2027 fifth to back up Linus Ullmark. Sammy Blais signed a two-year deal on July 1 to add a body who can play either wing.

The Ersson trade has a wrinkle worth watching in camp. Ottawa has three goaltenders it likes and only two spots, and 23-year-old Leevi Merilainen would have to clear waivers to go down. Reporting through July suggested Staios is at least open to carrying all three rather than lose one for nothing, which is an expensive way to protect an asset and tells you how the organization values him.

What the season actually asks

The one departure that stings for reasons unrelated to the standings is Daniel Alfredsson, who left the coaching staff after three seasons to join Toronto as associate coach. Ottawa fans have already had one franchise icon leave the building this summer.

The schedule does the Senators no favours in terms of routine. They open at home against Philadelphia on Oct. 8, the latest home opener of any Canadian club, and in December they fly to Germany for the Global Series, playing Chicago in Dusseldorf on Dec. 18 and Dec. 20.

The bet Staios has made is legible. He turned a captain who was two years from a market-setting contract into a younger forward with the same term profile, a middle-six scorer for a sixth-round pick, a real backup goalie, and two more first-round picks in the drawer. Whether that adds up to more wins than Tkachuk did is the question the season answers. Whether it feels that way in Ottawa is a separate question, and it will not be settled by October.

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