Tkachuk answers ongoing questions about his future in Ottawa: ‘It’s become a distraction’

Ottawa Senators captain Brady Tkachuk told reporters at his end-of-season availability on Wednesday that he is frustrated by the ongoing speculation surrounding his future with the team.

Tkachuk did not speak at the team’s end-of-season availability earlier this week as he departed to be with his family for the birth of his second child. The Senators were eliminated from the playoffs on Saturday, when the Carolina Hurricanes completed a four-game sweep.

The captain fielded questions about the season and the team’s rally into the playoffs, but also faced questions about his future with two years left on his contract.

“I wasn’t here for everybody’s meetings the other day, so I haven’t had the chance to talk to [general manager] Steve [Staios], but I feel like I’ve answered this hundreds of times,” Tkachuk said. “I feel like I’ve never said, or shown none of those things, and quite honestly it’s frustrating, it’s become a distraction.

“I have been fully committed to this team and this city, and it’s become frustrating to deal with.”

Staios addressed the situation on Monday, calling the rumours of Tkachuk’s pending departure “nonsense” at his end-of-season availability.

The 26-year-old Tkachuk played in 60 games this season, finishing with 22 goals and 59 points in his eighth campaign since the Senators selected him with the fourth-overall pick in the 2018 NHL Entry Draft.

In the post-season against the Hurricanes, the captain was held off of the scoresheet completely over the four-game series.

“You want to be a playoff player, and for me it wasn’t good enough,” Tkachuk said of his poor performance in the playoffs. “I don’t think anybody is more frustrated with how everything went than me. At the end of the day, I didn’t play good enough.”

Despite the poor finish, the Senators battled back from a difficult start to the campaign to make the playoffs. On Jan. 6, the Senators sat at the bottom of the Atlantic Division standings at 20-16-5, but went 24-11-6 down the stretch to surge into the final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference.

“Everything is very dampened by how the playoffs went, but I think in the grand scheme of things there was a lot that we dealt with as a group, handled the adversity and i was really proud of that,” said Tkachuk. “You can easily make an excuse, throw in the towel, but the fact that we made up all that ground and got into this position was good.

“At the end of the day we didn’t get what we truly wanted, which was the Stanley cup. It is frustrating, it dampened it because all I want to do is win a Stanley cup.”

Tkachuk is entering the fifth year of a seven-year, $57.56 million contract he signed ahead of the 2021 season. When asked about a potential extension beyond the 2027-28 campaign, he said that it was too far away to think about at this time.

“I just think the extension talk is just a year away, so that’s something you physically cannot do any time soon,” Tkachuk explained. “For me it’s just … I would talk to Steve when we have that conversation of where he views our team, what he thinks we need to improve on and what I need to improve on myself, not just as a player but as a captain. Obviously I’m excited to hear Steve’s thoughts and where he thinks we can improve.”

Tkachuk also took a moment to reiterate his stance on a possible future extension: “I’ve never said [I want to leave], [the] teams never said it, I’ve always believed in this team, I’ve always believed in playing for this city and the city’s always been good for me,” he said.