Senators GM says he saw signs Brady Tkachuk wanted out over a year ago

It’s been about a month since the Ottawa Senators shook up the NHL offseason by trading captain Brady Tkachuk to the Florida Panthers for a massive haul of draft picks.

The move, and general manager Steve Staios subsequent revelation to reporters that Tkachuk had requested the trade, has completely altered the course of an ascendant Senators team after two consecutive Stanley Cup Playoff appearances.

During an appearance on the "Locked on Senators" podcast, part of Sens Central, Staios shared with host Ross Levitan the first inklings he had that the days of Tkachuk’s tenure in Canada’s capital were numbered.

Ross Levitan: “Did you have an inkling, going down to meet with him, that a trade request could be coming at this point in time?”

Steve Staios: “I think over the last… probably over a year, that I saw signs that potentially Brady wouldn’t be here long term. Obviously, we want to take the time and do everything I can as the manager to protect and sort of deflect. There’s some things that were out of our control that we were trying to deal with.

“But create the right environment, I think we’ve been true to that since we walked through the door here at the Canadian Tire Centre. We want to create the right environment and allow our players to continue to grow and develop together. And I think we can be proud of that.

“We’ve developed an identity and built a competitive team that we continue to work on adding to. So I saw signs of it. I think ultimately when I did have that open and honest discussion with Brady and got some feedback, we realized at that point in time that I was going to engage in a process to make a trade.

I think in light of the timing, I think the player had two years left on his contract. I think we’ve seen in the past when players like this are left a little bit longer on two things happen. One is it could become a distraction to the team and two is the return on value isn’t quite there. So we were prudent, we engaged in the process, went through that diligently and worked towards a solution.”

Senators fans won’t have to wait too long for Tkachuk to make his return to the Canadian Tire Centre, as the Panthers are set to appear in Ottawa on Oct. 21.