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NHL Notebook: Tkachuk’s future questionable in Ottawa, Celebrini and McKenna join Canada at Worlds, and the end for Kopitar
Ottawa Senators Brady Tkachuk
Photo credit: Marc DesRosiers-Imagn
Alicia LaBine
Apr 27, 2026, 19:00 EDTUpdated: Apr 27, 2026, 19:42 EDT
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Brady Tkachuk’s future in Ottawa has become a looming question mark for the Senators after he was a no-show for the team who got swept by the Carolina Hurricanes.
This offseason may be as good a time as any for the Sens to move their captain, Daily Faceoff’s Matt Larkin argued Monday. A heavy-set power forward right at his prime at 26 years old, whose $8.205 AAV is a massive underpay for the next two seasons. No NHL player has averaged more shots on goal per 60 minutes at 5-on-5 since 2023-24.
Here’s more of what Larkin had to say about the potential of the Senators trading Tkachuk:
Perhaps they’ll even overpay for a player with a unicorn skill set like Tkachuk’s… Brady hasn’t come out and asked for anything, and he’s still signed two more seasons. He does have a no-movement clause, meaning he has plenty of leverage, but it’s not as pronounced as it was with Matthew.
So it’s possible Ottawa can land a high-impact, first-line forward plus additional pieces in the form of picks, prospects or young NHLers Devils as with upside in a trade for Brady. Maybe that means sending him to Florida where he can play with his brother Matthew; or if the Panthers don’t have the right mix of assets or are hamstrung by all the NMCs they’ve handed out, Staios could explore sending Brady to his hometown team, the St. Louis Blues, and try to bring Ontario-born Robert Thomas to Canada’s capital. The New York Rangers are another logical fit given the fact Brady and Emma make their offseason home in nearby New Jersey, to say nothing of the Devils as well. They have an enthusiastic new GM perhaps looking to make a splash in Sunny Mehta.
Tkachuk’s 572 games with the Senators have found him with a successful 213-goal and 463-point career thus far. Before this season’s flub in the playoffs, where Tkachuk went without a single point in the four-game series, he tallied four goals and seven points in six playoff games. Plus, you add on his physical prowess throughout the series, serving as a wrecking ball in their well-contested matchup with the Toronto Maple Leafs, and he is a shiny trade asset for the Sens.
Now, Senators general manager Steve Staios is in a position to assess whether Brady Tkachuk’s career will remain in the capital of Canada heading into next season, or if he will elect to seek out a blockbuster trade as an attempt to bring his team out of the lacklustre two playoff wins in Tkachuk’s eight years.

Celebrini and McKenna to join Canada

Macklin Celebrini and Gavin McKenna have committed to Team Canada for the 2026 IIHF Men’s World Championship next month.
According to TSN’s Darren Dreger, Celebrini and McKenna will be joined by Mathew Barzal, and Morgan Rielly as they head into the tournament on May 15.
Over the last four years, Celebrini has played in 33 games at the international level, tallying 21 goals and 47 points. Six of those games come from the 2026 Milano Cortina Winter Olympics, where he collected five goals and ten points, finishing second on the team in scoring behind Connor McDavid.
Celebrini has come out of the gate flying in his NHL career, and this season he finished fourth in the league in points with 115. This is the most points a teenager has gotten in the NHL since Sidney Crosby scored 120 points in the 2006-07 season.
As for McKenna, he is undeniably the top prospect heading into the 2026 NHL Draft, and could be the fourth Canadian player in four years to be drafted first overall.
The Whitehorse, Yukon, native has played in 26 games for Team Canada since he was 17, in which he has notched 20 goals and 43 points across four tournaments.
The four new additions to the squad will join John Tavares, Ryan O’Reilly, Robert Thomas, and Mark Scheifele in the tournament, as Canada looks to secure a medal for the first time in three years. Canada’s last medal was their gold medal in 2023, the 28th gold medal for the team in IIHF history.
This year they hope that with the help of two young superstars, they will achieve their 54th medal, further securing their title as the top-medaled team in the IIHF.

What are the Kings after Kopitar?

Anze Kopitar’s last playoff run was cut short once again after the Los Angeles Kings were swept by the Colorado Avalanche.
The 38-year-old centre, who is set to retire this summer, was drafted 11th overall by the Kings in the 2011 draft, and in the 15 years since, he has recorded 452 goals and 1,316 points in 1,521 games. With Kopitar, the Kings have made the playoffs 11 seasons, winning two cups in 2012 and 2014. In both cup runs, he recorded a point per game, tying the team lead with Dustin Brown in 2012, scoring 20 points, and leading alone with 26 in 2014.
On Monday’s episode of Daily Faceoff LIVE, hosts Tyler Yaremchuk and Carter Hutton discussed the franchise’s future without Kopitar.
Tyler Yaremchuk: An #AskDFO from Natty: “What is the future like in LA with Kopitar retiring and for next season?” Well, I think we have a bit of an idea on what their future is for next year, Hutts, because we know that that that $10 million from Kopitar is basically getting funneled right over to Artemi Panarin, like that’s the transition year from the Kings is that they’re going from Kopitar’s team to the Panarin/Fiala/Kempe team, right?
Carter Hutton: Yeah, I think that would be the trajectory of this team, and I think that’s the least of their worries right now. Just the way that this team is structured from the back end out. Ceci, Dumoulin, Edmundson, those guys are good players, but I don’t think they’re guys that are going to carry the mail when you need it most, and I think that is where they’re going to have to start… I don’t know. I just can’t see the Kings continually being good and making the playoffs here, especially with the Sharks coming now. The Sharks aren’t going to take a step back next year. The Ducks seem like they’re there to stay, and there’s going to be a bit more challenge I think for the LA Kings on how they restructure this team moving forward.
Tyler Yaremchuk: I agree, I think it’s hard to think that they can compete in a division where San Jose and Anaheim are getting better, and better, and better.

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