Michael Andlauer didn't soften a word of it. The Senators owner says Brady Tkachuk's father and brother got in his kitchen before that trade request.
Blood is thicker than water, Andlauer told Pierre LeBrun. Let's just say that his father and his brother got in his kitchen.
Owners don't usually put that part on the record. This one did, to The Athletic, with his name attached.
That's a man telling you he thinks he lost a captain to a family conversation rather than a hockey one.
The request was for Florida, which is where his brother already plays.
Matthew Tkachuk carries a $9,500,000 cap hit with the Panthers. The two of them are teammates now.
Ottawa didn't walk away with nothing, mind you. That trade brought back a pair of first round picks.
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Michael Andlauer reveals what he believes pushed Brady Tkachuk out of Ottawa
The ninth overall went on to San Jose in the William Eklund trade and turned into Keaton Verhoeff.
Ottawa used the 25th on Jonas Lagerberg Hoen. Two swings out of one departing captain.
Those same picks resurfaced this summer in Elliotte Friedman's reporting on Florida's Connor Hellebuyck offer.
Bill Zito put them on the table for a goaltender. Winnipeg turned it down anyway.
Brady put up 59 points across 60 games last season on an $8,205,714 cap hit.
Florida beat Carolina 6-3 on Sunday and travels there tonight for the rematch.
Ottawa dropped a 3-2 overtime decision in Montreal on Monday and visits Toronto on Wednesday.
Steve Staios has to build the next version of that roster without him. Andrew Campbell runs the bench through it.
Andlauer gave his version of events. Whether anybody in that family answers it is a separate story entirely.
Nothing about the quote changes the standings. It does explain why the relationship ended the way it did.
So why say it now? An owner talking about a family in public works like reading a private text message at a dinner party. Everybody hears it and nobody forgets it.
Ottawa has the picks and Florida has the brothers. One of those two things shows up on a scoresheet this season.
Was Michael Andlauer right to call out the Tkachuk family publicly?
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