Despite trading their best player and captain for four draft picks, the Ottawa Senators do not intend to rebuild.
Instead, the Senators plan to be “active in the market” when it comes to the ninth and 25th overall picks acquired from the Florida Panthers in exchange for Brady Tkachuk, general manager Steve Staios said Monday.
There has already been plenty of interest in the picks, he added.
“It’s been robust since the deal has happened. I have no intention of this team taking a step back. We’re active and we’re open,” Staios said.
The first round of the NHL draft is slated for Friday (Sportsnet, Sportsnet+, 7 p.m. ET / 4 p.m. PT) with Rounds 2-7 on Saturday.
The Senators dealt Tkachuk to the Panthers on Sunday, also getting back a 2027 second-round pick and a top-10 protected 2029 first-round pick in the deal with their division rival.
Staios said Tkachuk, who has a no-trade clause, made it clear he wanted a move in their meeting about a week and a half after the season ended. He began with a list of four teams — reported by Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman as the Panthers, Carolina Hurricanes, Minnesota Wild and Vegas Golden Knights — but eventually whittled it down to one.
“At the end, I think it’s pretty clear, there was one team,” Staios said. “I feel like I got the best deal the Ottawa Senators could get under the circumstances.
“Would it have looked different with 31 teams involved? Absolutely.”
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Staios said he could tell that “maybe something was amiss” with Tkachuk throughout the season, adding that he would have liked to see it through with the fourth overall pick of the 2018 draft.
Tkachuk won an Olympic gold medal with Team USA alongside brother Matthew in February. The duo will now team up once again with the Panthers.
Still, Staios said he wouldn’t shy away from acquiring Americans moving forward.
“I don’t look at the passport, I look at what they can offer the Ottawa Senators,” he said.
Tkachuk has two seasons left on a seven-year, $57.56-million deal he signed in October 2021.
He helped the Senators break a long post-season drought in 2025 and return to the Stanley Cup Playoffs this season, but the team managed just two wins total across both appearances.
Staios reaffirmed his belief in a team now led by the likes of forward Tim Stutzle and defenceman Jake Sanderson.
“Intention is to be active in the market, continue to add to a strong group, a committed group, a group that continues to move in the right direction. … I continue to believe in this core group of players moving forward,” Staios said.
“I feel like the draft capital we returned (in the Tkachuk trade) opens the door up to many different possibilities.”
With the deal, Tkachuk became the fourth of the last five Senators captains to have a trade request granted. He ends his eight-year career in Canada’s capital with 213 goals and 250 assists over 572 regular-season games.