Brady Tkachuk has heard and seen the trade rumors.
The Ottawa Senators superstar spent his season-ending press conference pushing back.
“Obviously, it’s a lie,” Tkachuk told reporters. “All those articles, stories, it’s not true. But I think it’s on me if I let that bother me or take me off what I’m trying to do.”
The 25-year old American has been with the Senators for seven seasons since Ottawa drafted him. He broke in during his age-19 season.
The high-scoring, hard-hitting forward was key to the Senators making the playoffs this season, although they couldn’t complete their first-round series comeback attempt against the Toronto Maple Leafs.
“Everyone knows that I do whatever it takes to win,” Tkachuk said. “Seeing this fan base, this excitement, to see how much they rallied around us, everybody’s waiting for it. Everybody wants to win the Stanley Cup. We have a great group, we’re gonna get that much better, and there’s gonna be some amazing times down the road.”
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It’s the modern sports ecosystem that rumors persist without any substantiation.
Athletes have been known to deny things that are actually really going to happen, but Tkachuk seemed quite genuine in his self-defense in this press conference.
At the end of the day, pro athletes aren’t robots. They hear the noise. They’re impacted by the rumors.
Tkachuk just wants to focus on being the best Senators player he can be.
“All that stuff is obviously not true,” Tkachuk said. “I want to play here. I want to win here. I really believe in everybody in this organization that everybody wants to win here. Everybody has the same goal and wants to accomplish the same thing.”
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