Rangers GM ‘infatuated with Brady Tkachuk,’ but are trade rumors real?
Whether fair or not, the New York Rangers have a long history of being connected to Brady Tkachuk in trade rumors. Expect those rumors to heat up even more now that Tkachuk and the Ottawa Senators were swept out of the Stanley Cup Playoffs by the Carolina Hurricanes in the first round.
With the Rangers looking to jumpstart their retool under general manager Chris Drury, and the Senators frustrated with a second straight first-round postseason defeat, perhaps there’s a match, a deal to be made by the Eastern Conference foes.
Newsday beat reporter Colin Stephenson believes it’s something Drury wishes to explore, but ultimately wouldn’t be able to push across the finish line
“He wants to get grittier and tougher. He’s been infatuated with Brady Tkachuk for a number of years now, and that seems to be the kind of player he wants to acquire,” Stephenson told Forever Blueshirts on the Rink Rap podcast recently.
“Whether it’s actually Brady Tkachuk, I can’t imagine how that could come about unless Brady forces his way out of Ottawa. I just don’t see the Senators giving up on him.”
Of course, his take was before the Hurricanes swept the Senators in four games, Tkachuk failed to record a point in the series, despite leading the Senators with 11 shots on goal and averaging 21:21 TOI. Ottawa’s 26-year-old captain was fourth on the team with 13 hits, though his 9.06 hits per 60 minutes was only ninth best on the Senators.
He did have a 51.36 percent expected goal share 5v5 in the series, per Natural Stat Trick. But in the end, Carolina outscored Ottawa 3-0 with him on the ice 5v5. And in the 4-2 Game 4 loss, Tkachuk’s xGF was under 48 percent. and he managed one shot on goal — his only shot attempt in a must-win game.
True, the Hurricanes did an excellent job smothering Tkachuk throughout the series. But he’s a play driver, a big-game player expected to thrive on the biggest stages. He did just that helping the United States win the gold medal at the 2026 Milan-Cortina Olympics (three goals, two assists in six games), and finish second at the 4 Nations Face-Off in 2025 (three goals in four games). Last spring, in his first Stanley Cup Playoffs, Tkachuk led the Senators with four goals and seven points in six games, a first-round loss to the Toronto Maple Leafs.
Rangers remain tied to Brad Tkachuk trade rumors
Tkachuk’s lack of production and inability to make enough of a difference for Ottawa against Carolina could give Drury and the Rangers pause here. Then again, if they believe in the player, the Rangers could strike now if the Senators are at all questioning his ability to help them become true Stanley Cup contenders.
Keep in mind that Tkachuk scored 30+ goals three times and has at least 20 in seven of his eight NHL seasons. Despite missing 22 games due to injury this season, he averaged a point-per-game (59 points in 60 games), scored 22 goals, and had 37 assists, tied for his second most in one season.
Toss in his powerhouse North-South game, fierce competitiveness, and leadership, and you can understand why the Rangers are interested in him. Remember, the Rangers traded for J.T. Miller in January of 2025 and named his their 29th captain for a reason. This is the type player Drury wants more of in the Rangers retool. Tkachuk is simply a younger and bigger (6-foot-4, 226 pounds) version of Miller.
Right now, there’s plenty of conjecture and absolutely zero evidence Ottawa might consider trading Tkachuk. Remember how livid Senators owner Michael Andlauer got last season when rumors escalated and he accused the Rangers of “soft tampering” by leaking Tkachuk trade rumors to the media.
Tkachuk didn’t discuss his future following the Game 4 defeat on home ice Saturday. He did repeatedly state that this series loss was “heartbreaking.” And Tkachuk’s pretty careful about what he says in public about these things — even after his father Keith and brother Matthew criticized Senators coach Travis Green recently on a podcast, detailing how he misused Brady and didn’t play him enough.
Unless he says something out of character about his future in Ottawa at breakup day this coming week, there will be no fanning the rumors fire any more by Tkachuk. He has two years remaining on a contract that pays him $8.2 million annually.
However, Jonny Lazarus of Daily Faceoff offered this take, drawing a comparison between Tkachuk to star defenseman Quinn Hughes, who was traded this past season from the Vancouver Canucks to the Minnesota Wild.
“Brady’s got two more years on his deal. It’s like the same exact situation [as Hughes was in], right? It’s an American kid in a Canadian market, who hasn’t seen a ton of [team] success, and has kind of made some comments that make you wonder if his future is here. And I think that anyone who’s read into that knows, he’s not signing another contract there … it’s not a secret,” Lazarus told Forever Blueshirts earlier this month on the Rink Rap podcast.
“I think moving on from Brady is going to be talked about a lot this summer, like last summer was with Quinn.”
It’s a situation Drury and Co. are sure to monitor very closely. And there’s a good reason why.
“You want to acquire players that are Tkachuk-like, guys who can fight, get under your skin, and also score some goals,” Stephenson explained. “Those guys aren’t out there just to be picked off trees. There aren’t that many of them.”
