A NEW PHENOMENON 

BY MIKE RIFKIN

Sunday was Father’s Day and for Keith Tkachuk he got the ultimate present. On Sunday it was announced that the Florida Panthers and Ottawa Senators agreed to a trade that would send Senators Captain Brady Tkachuk to the Panthers for draft capital including numbers nine and twenty five in the first round of the NHL Draft on Friday Night. Brady being sent to Florida will give him the opportunity to play with his brother Matthew, who has already won two Stanley Cups in Florida. 

Brady Tkachuk had a No Trade Clause in his contract with the Senators, and apparently when the two sides discussed the deal, Brady would only go to four teams : The Panthers, Minnesota Wild, Vegas Golden Knights, and the Carolina Hurricanes. Now the Hurricanes just won the Cup and that makes sense, but Florida, Minnesota and Vegas what do they all have in common outside of they want to win? Oh, they’re also the three teams that Red Wings Captain Dylan Larkin told the organization he would go to when he requested a trade. Now both Larkin and Tkachuk were both members of Team USA, who took Gold in the Olympics and with their open trade requests would be joining other players from that team. If they were to join Florida Brady’s brother Matthew played for Team USA as did defenseman Seth Jones, if they were to join Minnesota defensemen Quinn Hughes and Brock Faber along with forward Matt Boldy, and if they were to join the Golden Knights they’d team up with forward Jack Eichel and defenseman Noah Hanifin. So, why only give three teams that you’d actually play for?

Could it have to do with Team USA?, Sure. Could it have to do with the fact that the Wild, Golden Knights and Panthers are all in to win? Definitely, but there’s something else here. And it’s something the NHL and its fans will either love or hate. It’s the fact that these No trade clauses are being given out like candy on Halloween. Even if it’s not a full no movement clause, there are a lot of players who have partials. Now, if the NHL wants to embrace a superteam era like the NBA has done in the past, that’s fine everyone loves a good villain. The NHL has already ratified a new CBA that’ll start in September and run through 2030. You have to wonder that in the next CBA they discuss the possibility of limiting the number of trade clauses per team. 

Is it cool that the Tkachuk’s want to play together? Sure. But limiting the amount of teams you’re willing to go to and handcuffing the current organization is mean. Now, I get it every competitor wants to win, but in the eyes of Sens fans now Brady Tkachuk is viewed as a villain and across the league in fans eyes he’s viewed differently. These are guys in the prime of their careers and limiting where you want to go hurts the team they currently play for, because if you limit yourself to one or two teams, the return won’t be as good because nobody wants to bid against themselves.