Brady Tkachuk walks back into the Canadian Tire Centre on Wednesday night in a Florida Panthers sweater, four months after forcing his way out of the Ottawa Senators. He is expecting to see a few of his old ones come over the glass.
Throwing a jersey onto the ice is the most pointed gesture a hockey crowd has, and an expensive one. Tkachuk has spent the days beforehand making sure it won’t be wasted.
“Just talking with our team and going to be talking with the Boys and Girls Club, every jersey that gets thrown on the ice is going to get donated to a friend at the Boys and Girls Club in Ottawa,” Tkachuk said on Wingmen, the podcast he co-hosts with his brother Matthew Tkachuk.
He isn’t encouraging anybody to do it. He just isn’t pretending it won’t happen.
“If you’re going to do it and send a message, just know that it’s going to a good cause,” he said. “I’ve received your message.”
Matthew, predictably, took a different line. He said he’d like to see 10,000 Tkachuk jerseys on the ice.
Why is Brady Tkachuk donating to the Boys and Girls Club?
He and his wife Emma started a program with the club back in 2023, called Tkachuk’s Captains, and kept it running right up until the trade. He has described the place as somewhere the two of them built a lot of relationships during their years in the city.
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That history is why this reads as something other than damage control, which matters given how the summer went. Tkachuk told Senators management he had no intention of signing an extension when his deal expires in 2028, then used his no-movement clause to force the move, having said in April that he was fully committed to the franchise.
Ottawa general manager Steve Staios offered a dry summary of how it all landed locally.
“Clearly, it was pointed at one team at the end,” Staios said.
Tkachuk arrives in form. He has six goals and four assists in nine games, including natural hat tricks in consecutive outings, and the Panthers are 5-2-2. Puck drop is 7:30 p.m. ET.
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