Brady Tkachuk’s Panthers career started with a win. Florida beat the defending champion Carolina Hurricanes 1-0 in overtime at Lenovo Center on opening night, 29 September, three months after acquiring Ottawa’s captain in a trade that cost them two first-round picks and a conditional third.
A week in, the goals have not come. Tkachuk has no points through three games, all of them decided in overtime, as Florida started 1-0-2. He does have nine shots and seven penalty minutes, five of them for a fight with Jacob Trouba in San Jose.
The debut: a win at the champions
Gustav Forsling settled it 4:55 into overtime, from Carter Verhaeghe. Jacob Markstrom made 15 saves for the shutout in his first game back with Florida, the club where his NHL career started in 2010. The former Canuck and Flame spent the last two seasons in New Jersey before the Panthers brought him back in June.
Tkachuk played 16:33 on his debut, with one shot and a second-period minor for goaltender interference. Carolina, who beat Vegas for the Stanley Cup in June, had just started their title defence.
Brady Tkachuk’s first week, game by game
| Date | Opponent | Result | G | A | Shots | PIM | TOI |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 29 Sep | at Carolina | W 1-0 (OT) | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 16:33 |
| 1 Oct | at San Jose | L 3-4 (OT) | 0 | 0 | 4 | 5 | 19:37 |
| 4 Oct | at Anaheim | L 2-3 (OT) | 0 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 16:02 |
The shot count is the encouraging part: eight in the last two games. Tkachuk scored 30 or more goals three times in Ottawa and finished his Senators career with 213 goals and 463 points in 572 games. The edge has come with him too, as Trouba found out in the first period in San Jose.
A slow start by his own standards
Three games without a point is new for Tkachuk. In each of his eight seasons in Ottawa he had at least two points after three games, and his first goal never took longer than six games to arrive. In 2025-26 it came in game six, his longest wait; in three other seasons he scored in his first game.
None of that guarantees anything in Los Angeles on Tuesday, and three overtime games is a small sample. The underlying picture is steadier than the scoresheet, though. He has eight shots in the last two games, he is playing between 16 and 20 minutes a night, and Florida have taken four points from three road games while waiting for him to score.
The Tkachuk brothers, together in Florida
The trade put Brady on the same team as his older brother Matthew, who won the Stanley Cup with Florida in 2024 and 2025. Both were born in Scottsdale, Arizona, while their father Keith was playing for the Coyotes. Keith scored 538 goals in 18 NHL seasons. Now his sons share a dressing room for the first time in the NHL.
Our Stanley Cup winners page has Florida’s two titles and every champion before them.
Brady Tkachuk’s Ottawa years, season by season
| Season | GP | G | A | PTS | PIM | Points in first 3 games |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2018-19 | 71 | 22 | 23 | 45 | 75 | 5 |
| 2019-20 | 71 | 21 | 23 | 44 | 106 | 2 |
| 2020-21 | 56 | 17 | 19 | 36 | 69 | 3 |
| 2021-22 | 79 | 30 | 37 | 67 | 117 | 2 |
| 2022-23 | 82 | 35 | 48 | 83 | 126 | 4 |
| 2023-24 | 81 | 37 | 37 | 74 | 134 | 5 |
| 2024-25 | 72 | 29 | 26 | 55 | 123 | 5 |
| 2025-26 | 60 | 22 | 37 | 59 | 71 | 3 |
The best of it came in the middle. Tkachuk scored 35 goals and 83 points in 2022-23, then set his goal high with 37 the year after. He spent 821 minutes in the penalty box across the eight seasons, more than 100 in five of them, and was captain from 2021 until the trade. His playoff record with Ottawa is short: 10 games, all in the last two springs, with seven points in 2025 and none in the 2026 sweep by Carolina.
What Florida paid, and what Ottawa did next
Florida sent Ottawa two 2026 first-round picks (Nos. 9 and 25), a 2027 second-round pick and a conditional 2029 first. Two days later the Senators turned the ninth pick into William Eklund, Kasper Halttunen and Brandon Svoboda from San Jose. Eklund, the seventh overall pick in 2021, has six NHL seasons behind him, five of them with the Sharks. Halttunen and Svoboda, both 2023 draft picks, have yet to play an NHL game. Every deal from June onwards is on our NHL trade tracker.
Ottawa have moved on. Thomas Chabot was named Tkachuk’s successor four days before the season and scored in his first game with the C, a 3-2 win in Toronto. Our story on Chabot’s captaincy has the full list of Senators captains.
The return to Ottawa: 21 October
Tkachuk goes back to Canadian Tire Centre on Wednesday, 21 October, when Florida visit Ottawa at 7:30 p.m. ET. Before that the Panthers play at Los Angeles on Tuesday (10 p.m. ET), open at home against Minnesota on Saturday, 10 October (6 p.m. ET), and visit Buffalo on Thanksgiving Monday (1 p.m. ET). The Florida Panthers and Ottawa Senators team pages carry both schedules.
Ottawa fans will see plenty of him. The two clubs meet four times this season: in Ottawa on 21 October and 18 March, and in Florida on 25 November and 18 January. The first of those is Florida’s 10th game of the season, and the last comes inside the final month of the regular season.
For bettors, Florida’s futures rest on more than one winger, and a slow start in October rarely moves a contender’s price far. Our Stanley Cup odds page tracks the board. Odds may change. 19+ (18+ in AB/MB/QC). Please play responsibly.
Brady Tkachuk FAQs
On 29 September 2026 at Carolina, a 1-0 overtime win over the defending champion Hurricanes.
Not as of 5 October. He has no points in his first three games for Florida, with nine shots and seven penalty minutes.
Two 2026 first-round picks (Nos. 9 and 25), a 2027 second-round pick and a conditional 2029 first-round pick, in a trade with Ottawa on 21 June 2026.
Yes. Brady joined his older brother Matthew in Florida after the June trade. It is the first time they have been NHL teammates.
Florida play at Ottawa on Wednesday, 21 October 2026, at 7:30 p.m. ET.
Thomas Chabot, named on 29 September 2026 as Tkachuk’s successor.
He scored 213 goals and 463 points in 572 regular-season games across eight seasons, with a best of 37 goals in 2023-24.
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