Brady Tkachuk trade grades after Panthers-Senators blockbuster

The NHL offseason can be a slow grind, as teams await big moments such as the NHL Draft or NHL Free Agency to bolster their rosters. However, sometimes we get major fireworks before those events. And on Sunday evening, the Florida Panthers and Ottawa Senators provided those fireworks in the form of the Brady Tkachuk trade.

Tkachuk joins his brother Matthew in Sunrise after eight years in Ottawa. In exchange, the Senators received three first-round picks, with two being from the 2026 NHL Draft, as well as a second-round pick. It’s a big trade that will have significant ramifications for this offseason and potentially future offseasons to come.

With no further ado, let’s take a deeper dive and hand out grades to the Senators and Panthers for Sunday’s stunning Brady Tkachuk trade.

Panthers going all in with Brady Tkachuk trade

The Panthers entered this offseason with two choices. One, they could chalk up their disappointing results from the 2025-26 campaign to brutal injury luck. The other choice would’ve been to play this offseason cautiously, and see how they do in 2026-27 to determine if they should go all in again.

Clearly, Florida is not resting on its laurels. They believe their injury luck from 2025-26 won’t be much of an issue coming up. And they feel they can be Stanley Cup contenders once again in 2027. That is the only reason general manager Bill Zito makes a trade like this.

Brady Tkachyk is a very good player, but he also isn’t a world-beating superstar. He is a three-time 30-goal scorer and has played to a point per game pace once in his career. His physicality and general desire to antagonize the opponent fit in quite well with the Panthers. But in terms of offensive skill, he isn’t his brother Matthew.

In this sense, the Panthers gave up a lot for Brady. Three first-round picks for a player whose only point-per-game season saw him score one point more than the games he played is tough to swallow. At the same time, though, it feels like a light price to pay.

Two of the first round picks are from the 2026 NHL Draft. Those are the No. 9 and No. 25 picks, with the 25th pick being previously acquired in the Mackie Samoskevich trade earlier on Sunday. However, the other two picks don’t come until the end of this decade. The first-rounder is in 2029, and the second-round pick is in 2030.

The Panthers always had a leg up here, considering Brady’s relationship with his brother Matthew. On paper, this is a steep price considering what Brady brings to the table. Considering the leverage Florida had here, though, the price also somehow feels quite light.

GRADE: A

Senators stuck in unenviable position

The Senators reportedly spoke with Tkachuk about his future following the season, according to Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman. Ottawa was left with some uncertainty after these discussions. And they were eventually presented with a four-team trade list: the Panthers, Carolina Hurricanes, Minnesota Wild, and Vegas Golden Knights.

Comparisons to the Dylan Larkin trade situation aside, Ottawa got the feeling Brady’s clear preference was to go to Florida. Tkachuk had a no-trade clause, so he had the final say. In the end, the Senators had to either take the best deal they could or hold out for as long as possible. They chose the former option.

Overall, this isn’t the worst return they could have received. They are set up for the future with additional picks at the turn of the decade. However, their on-ice outlook is not that great in the near-term. The Senators needed to get a player back in this, and they failed to do so. It’s sort of a wonder why they didn’t make an effort to get Samoskevich from the Panthers if he was available for the taking.

Ottawa still has two choices to make following this trade. They could sit on their 2026 picks, of which they now have three. On the other hand, they could flip these picks for a more established player right now. They are unable to trade one of those selections due to a league ruling earlier in the season. As a result, they would need to part with the picks acquired in this deal if they wanted to replace Tkachuk.

In the end, it’s a move general manager Steve Staios felt the need to make. On paper, this is not a bad return. However, if he desires to get this team back in the Stanley Cup Playoffs for 2027, this is certainly quite the light package.

GRADE: C+

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