Brady Tkachuk did not hold back on dirty Senators rumors

Ottawa Senators star Brady Tkachuk had heard enough.

The Senators captain broke his silence on the wild rumor circulating on social media following the team’s late-December announcement that goalie Linus Ullmark was taking a leave of absence for personal reasons. 

Ottawa did not reveal the exact nature of why Ullmark was stepping away from the team, and the team did not have to. However, that did not stop people on the internet from spreading a wild, unfounded rumor behind Ullmark’s absence.

It even came to a point where the Senators had to release a statement addressing the “completely fabricated and false stories that are spreading around social media.”

On Saturday, Tkachuk did his part to shut down the rumors surrounding his teammate.

“I don’t think anybody’s pretty happy about a narrative being spread like that,” Tkachuk told reporters following Saturday’s practice, via the “Coming In Hot” podcast. 

“It’s OK for people to critique our on-ice performance, but when it gets into family, it’s pretty f–king b——t.”

Tkachuk further emphasized his point.

“It’s embarrassing that it got to the point that it did. I can tell you for free I’m not happy about it one bit.”

Hopefully, Tkachuk and the Senators have done enough to stop the rumors from spreading and others from believing them.

Such distractions are certainly not helping Ottawa stay focused on its on-ice goals, especially with the Senators riding a three-game losing streak heading into a huge Saturday matchup against the two-time Stanley Cup champion Florida Panthers at Canadian Tire Centre in Ottawa, Ontario.