The Tkachuk brothers are now on the same team thanks to this summer’s first blockbuster deal.
The Florida Panthers acquired Brady Tkachuk from the Ottawa Senators for four high draft picks on Sunday afternoon, uniting him with Matthew Tkachuk. The Senators will get three first-round picks from the Panthers — the No. 9 and No. 25 overall picks at the 2026 NHL Draft and Florida’s first-round pick in 2029 (conditional) — as well as a second-round selection in 2027.
The Athletic’s Pierre LeBrun was the first to report the deal. Florida officially announced the trade later on Sunday.
Tkachuk’s name immediately began popping up in trade rumors after the Senators were swept out of the first round of this year’s playoffs by the Carolina Hurricanes. Tkachuk, who had 59 points (22g, 37a) in 60 regular-season games, did not record a single point and was in the penalty box for 13 minutes during Ottawa’s series against Carolina.
The 26-year-old winger, who owns a full no-movement clause, has two more seasons left on his contract at an $8.2 million cap hit before he becomes an unrestricted free agent in the summer of 2028. According to LeBrun, outside of Florida, the Senators also held talks with three other teams that Tkachuk would have been willing to go to: the Hurricanes, the Minnesota Wild, and the Vegas Golden Knights.
Tkachuk has spent his entire eight-season career with the Senators after they drafted him fourth overall in the 2018 NHL Draft. In 572 total games, he’s tallied 463 points (213g, 250a), with a single-season, career-best 83 points (35g, 48a) in 82 games during the 2022-23 campaign. He was also part of the gold-medal-winning Team USA at the 2026 Winter Olympics in Italy.
The huge trade came just hours after the Panthers dealt forward Mackie Samoskevich to the Seattle Kraken for a 2026 first-round selection (acquired by Seattle from the Tampa Bay Lightning) and a 2027 second-round selection (conditional).
After acquiring Tkachuk, the Panthers still have plenty of work to do with their roster for next season. According to PuckPedia, Florida has $7.1 million in projected cap space with just 19 active players. Not included in those 19 players are any goaltenders under contract for the 2026-27 campaign.
Sergei Bobrovsky, the team’s star netminder for all three of their recent runs to the Stanley Cup Final, may now be priced out of Florida. He was reportedly seeking a six or seven-year contract worth as high as $42 million.
