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13 minutes ago
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Brady Tkachuk isn't the same level of player as Connor McDavid or Auston Matthews, although the Ottawa Senators winger is clearly an NHL star.
But as far as offseason trade rumors are concerned, Tkachuk has a lot of overlap with those superstars from the Oilers and Maple Leafs.
That's because Tkachuk, like that duo, is coming off a less-than-ideal season with his team, and he likely wants to understand that things are moving in the right direction.
Star players can have some influence, although not all of it, and often, they simply want to understand what's happening.
"So this is kind of a wait-and-see mode type of scenario," NHL insider David Pagnotta told Daily Faceoff in a new episode of their video show. "And I think, look, from Brady’s perspective, I’d kind of put this in a similar boat to Matthews in Toronto, McDavid in Edmonton. I wanna know what the direction of this team is."
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Tkachuk and the Senators were in a much better spot about a year ago, a playoff contender, rather than where they are now after a rough season. Sounds quite a bit like Matthews.
"I’m sure Brady’s going to want to know, with two years left on his contract, what’s our window here?" Pagnotta said. "And are we getting better? Are we improving? And what’s the plan to do that? But in terms of the conversation, I think they had the one after the season, after the exits. And I think there’s gonna be one at one point, but I think it’s status quo right now."
This NHL summer shapes up to have a lot of different directions. A couple star players could actually get traded, or there could be a bunch of speculation but no real moves.
Either way, it'll be plenty to talk about, and Tkachuk will be in that picture, just as Matthews and McDavid will.
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