Brady Tkachuk opened the scoring against the Ottawa Senators last Wednesday, in his first game back at the Canadian Tire Centre since forcing his way out of the club. On his way past the bench he had spent eight seasons sitting on, he said something.
Michael Andlauer, who owns the team, repeated it on the Coming In Hot podcast on Tuesday.
“Some things never change, eh boys?” Tkachuk said, according to Andlauer.
The owner’s assessment of how that landed was delivered with a smile.
“I don’t think that comment motivated our players much,” Andlauer said with a hint of irony.
Brady Tkachuk’s return to Ottawa:
| Category | Total |
|---|---|
| Goals scored | 1 |
| Ottawa goals after that | 5 |
| Final score | 1-5 |
What did Brady Tkachuk say about Ottawa’s culture?
The chirp wasn’t the part that stung most in that building. When Tkachuk explained his departure, he talked about wanting to be somewhere with a winning culture, which Andlauer took as a comment on the organization he runs.
“I know I felt it personally,” Andlauer said.
It isn’t the first time the owner has spoken plainly about the trade. In September he suggested Tkachuk’s father Keith and brother Matthew had played a significant part in the move, summing it up with the line that blood is thicker than water.
READ MORE: Ottawa counted the Tkachuk jerseys, and there’s a problem
The hockey settled the argument fairly comprehensively. Tim Stutzle leveled on the power play at 14:13, Ottawa scored five unanswered, and the Senators won 5-1 in front of a crowd that had spent three periods working through a list of chants.
A Tkachuk giveaway led to the goal that put the game out of reach, and his evening unraveled from there.
The two teams meet again on January 18.
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