Senators captain Brady Tkachuk out long-term following surgery

Senators are having a rough start to the season

After ending a seven-year playoff drought last spring, the Senators have stumbled out of the gate in the 2025-26 season. They currently sit in a tie with the Buffalo Sabres for the second-last in the Eastern Conference with a 1-3-0 record through four games, and their most recent outing ended in an 8-4 loss against those very same Sabres.

The Senators originally selected Tkachuk with the No. 4 overall pick in the 2018 NHL Draft. The 6-foot-4, 226-pound winger immediately made the jump from Boston University to the Senators in 2018-19 , putting together his first of six 20-goal seasons to date as a rookie.

Tkachuk scored 30 goals in three consecutive seasons with the Senators between 2021-22 and 2023-24, and he still managed 29 in 72 games with the club last year. In his first-ever taste of the Stanley Cup Playoffs, Tkachuk recorded four goals and seven points in six games as the Senators fell to the Toronto Maple Leafs in the Eastern Conference quarterfinals.

In 515 career NHL games over parts of eight seasons with the Senators, Tkachuk has collected 191 goals, 407 points, and 754 penalty minutes. Along with his father, Keith, and his brother, Matthew, the younger Tkachuk brother graced the deluxe edition cover of EA Sports’ "NHL 26" video game, released earlier this year.