OTTAWA — Brady Tkachuk is tired, and it has nothing to do with having a newborn child.
Back in Ottawa following the birth of he and his wife Emma’s second child, the Senators captain bristled at rumors that he might be interested in playing in the U.S.
“I feel like I’ve answered this hundreds of times,” said Tkachuk, who is from St. Louis. “None of that, I feel like I’ve never shown, I’ve never said, none of those things ever came out of my mouth. And quite honestly, it’s just getting frustrating. It’s becoming a distraction, because I have been fully committed to this team, to the city, and it’s just becoming a distraction and frustrating to deal with.”
Tkachuk was held without a point in the first-round series against Carolina, a four-game sweep.
“I don’t think anybody’s more frustrated with how everything went than me,” he said. “At the end of the day I didn’t play good enough. I tried doing everything in my power to get my game going to make an impact, and just felt like nothing was going, nothing was going in, nothing was going my way. I have to live with that.”
Tkachuk said he wasn’t dealing with any injuries, making his lack of production that much more difficult to accept.
Despite the postseason not going as planned Tkachuk believes the Senators took strides this season and looks forward to connecting with general manager Steve Staios to discuss how the team can continue to improve.
Tkachuk said he struggles to understand why there’s skepticism surrounding his commitment to the team and the city. With two years remaining on his contract Tkachuk isn’t even in a position to start talking about an extension until July 2027.
“Honestly I don’t get why,” he said. “It’s a consistent thing, and it’s happened so many times, personally, and it’s frustrating to have to answer to something that has never been spoken out of my mouth. Has never been spoken from the team’s mouth but I just feel like I have to consistently answer to it, and it’s just frustrating.”
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