garrioch tkachuk | Ottawa Citizen

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Brady Tkachuk was the center of attention on Friday.

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While a New York Post A report Friday morning suggested the Rangers were working on a blockbuster deal to acquire the Ottawa Senators captain, as part of a deal that would also involve defenseman Jacob Trouba, a well-informed source told Postmedia: “This is complete nonsense.”

The Senators would rather win with Tkachuk than trade him elsewhere, and the Post’s report that the Rangers described him as part of a deal with defenseman Jacob Trouba is believed to be a fabrication and not based on facts.

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Another source called the Tkachuk report “garbage.”

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Since Steve Staios, Ottawa’s president of hockey operations and general manager, took over the organization a year ago, he has worked hard to bring in better players around Tkachuk to support him and help the Senators win for the first time in eight years reach the playoffs.

Rangers GM Chris Drury may have some explaining to do to the Senators organization based on this conversation. Staios won’t be the least bit pleased if Tkachuk’s name is floating around out there.

It is believed that Staios scheduled a conversation with Tkachuk to reiterate that there was absolutely no truth to this.

However, it should be noted post Columnist Larry Brooks gets this information from somewhere and it became clear that Drury was trying to shake the trees to bring about change on Broadway.

“Truba’s excision takes care of a problem, but Drury has spent the week in trade talks with several clubs The post “I learned OTT’s Brady Tkachuk has become the Rangers’ top target,” Brooks wrote.

Brooks also noted that Rangers star Alexis Lafreniere would need to be part of a package in return, which is interesting, but there have been no discussions with New York regarding Tkachuk.

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Tkachuk wants to win in Ottawa, and he wants it to happen sooner rather than later, especially after watching brother Matthew Tkachuk win the Stanley Cup last spring.

Knowing that Tkachuk is desperate to win here, Staios spent the summer making changes to the roster.

The biggest deal Staios made was acquiring goaltender Linus Ulllmark from the Boston Bruins in June. Signed for four years and $33 million, he is not yet at his best but is already putting in some brilliant performances.

The club brought in veteran defenseman Nick Jensen from the Washington Capitals to stabilize the top four and also made changes in attack.

Veteran winger David Perron, who has had limited playing time due to a personal issue and most recently an upper body injury, was signed along with forwards Michael Amadio and Noah Gregor.

Tkachuk signed a seven-year, $57.5 million contract with the Senators in October 2021. He has four years remaining with a cap hit of just over $8.2 million per season and is the club’s best player.

It is an important part of the Ottawa core with Tim Stutzle, Drake Batherson, Jake Sanderson, Thomas Chabot, Shane Pinto, Josh Norris and Ridly Greig.

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Tkachuk has 13 goals and 29 points in 25 games this season. He has been one of the club’s most consistent goalscorers and makes the players around him better.

Coach Travis Green recently came to Tkachuk’s defense after fans criticized him for taking 21 minutes of penalties in a 4-3 loss to the Vancouver Canucks last month.

“Someone asked the other night about reining in Brady,” Green said Monday morning. “We have a player – and I’ve heard this chatter a bit – we’re lucky to have this guy to start with.

“He’s a skilled hockey player, he’s tough, he’s mean, he cares and he’s fired up to win in Ottawa. And he is a very good ice hockey player. If you looked around, whether you played Peewee, Junior, American League or any other league in the world, you would want a player like that on your team.”

Green noted that day that he would never tell Tkachuk to change his game and he wants him to ignore the noise.

“I don’t think that’s fair,” Green said. “Is he perfect? No, there are not many perfect players in the world. Sometimes when you have something for a short time you forget what you have.

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“The Ottawa Senators are lucky to have this guy. I don’t think the chatter is fair. Will he make mistakes? Hell yeah. Every player does it. So I would probably take a step back because I don’t think it’s fair.”

Green couldn’t even believe he had to bring up the subject.

“It’s always hard,” Green said. “Sometimes you have to put a fire under a guy’s butt and make him play hard. I would much rather have a man who plays extremely hard and teaches him when to do it and when not to.

“People forget that this guy is still young. I mean, my God, chasing a man because he’s emotional and wants to win? Like really? We want all of our players to be emotional and want to win. To challenge a guy like that is… I’m probably reserved in my (comments), but I think it’s crazy.”

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