Winners and Losers of the Brady Tkachuk to Panthers Trade

The Senators and Panthers gave us a Father's Day shocker Sunday, as Ottawa shipped off captain Brady Tkachuk to his brother's Panthers for three first-round picks and a second-rounder.

The rumors had been swirling about Tkachuk's potential exit for months, but his contract doesn't expire until the summer of 2028. He reportedly informed the team last month that he would not be extending, so the Senators decided to cut him loose quickly and focus on moving on ASAP.

Part of the reason the Senators decided to speed up this process? Tkachuk flexed his no-movement clause, giving the Senators a list of just four teams he would agree to go to: The Panthers, the Golden Knights, the Hurricanes, and the Wild. In the end, the Panthers surrendered tons of draft capital, and that was Ottawa's best option.

The usage of the no-movement clause is well within Tkachuk's rights, and it's a trend we're seeing increase as players feel more empowered. How does Tkachuk's move affect looming free agency and draft week? Where do the Senators go from here? How good will the Panthers be next year?

Here are the winners and losers of Tkachuk's move to Florida.

Winner: Player Power

Steph Chambers/Getty Images

The NHL has been on the brink of a changing landscape for a while now, and several factors are coming together to make this offseason a huge one. The new CBA is kicking in, the salary cap has jumped significantly, and there are a number of superstars with no movement clauses.

NHL GMs have long thrown out no-trade and no-movement clauses like candy. The difference now is that players are starting to use them to their fullest extent, as is their contractual right.

The Athletic's Pierre LeBrun reported that Tkachuk, who has a no-movement clause, would only approve a trade to the Panthers, Carolina Hurricanes, Vegas Golden Knights, and potentially the Minnesota Wild. In the past, players often agreed to waive a no-movement clause so a team could get the best value from a trade that sent him to a destination he deemed decent enough.

Now, we're seeing a shift where star players are flexing NMCs to leverage more control, to land at destinations they deem top-tier, not just decent enough, for plenty of reasons, personal and professional. In Tkachuk's case, obviously the opportunity to play with his brother was a factor, as was Cup contention. You could see state taxes factoring in (save for the inclusion of Minnesota), but it seems more like a secondary perk after contention.

Regardless, each player with an NMC will have a set of personal and professional reasons for their own list of tradable teams. Whatever the reasons, we're about to see an influx of player power in the NMC.

Next up, Dylan Larkin?

Loser: Ottawa Senators

Tim Austen/Freestyle Photo/Getty Images

Jake Sanderson

The Senators did the best they could with the leverage that they had, acquiring three first-round picks and a second in the deal. Still, they lost their captain and first-liner and received no NHL (or AHL, for that matter) roster players.

This is a gigantic blow for a team that has made the playoffs for the past two seasons and is looking to take the next step to Cup contention.

There had been rumors of Tkachuk on the move for a while, and it created some unrest in Ottawa. When Tkachuk informed the team last month that he would not be extending his contract, which expires in 2028, the Senators' hands were tied. It was the best option to trade him as quickly as possible and move on.

But now we're at the "moving on" part, and it's difficult to see how they are going to replace Tkachuk with a full-blown NHL star and improve on this year's first-round exit. Perhaps they'll use some of the draft capital acquired to take a run at Jason Robertson, but the search for a replacement is an extra step the Senators likely wouldn't have had to take if they had more control in trading Tkachuk.

Winner: Florida Panthers

Eliot J. Schechter/NHLI via Getty Images

The Florida Panthers? Winners? Stop us if you've heard this one before!

After an off year in which Florida was clearly nursing the injury hangover of back-to-back Stanley Cup wins, the Panthers are fully healthy headed into the 2026-27 season and ready to go for a third title in four years. What do they do before the offseason has even truly begun?

They make an out-of-nowhere trade to unite the Tkachuk brothers, adding yet another "rat" with some high-end skill and top-line abilities to the pack.

Sure, the Panthers need to figure out their goaltending situation, as it appears they will not be re-signing Sergei Bobrovsky. Yes, they've now got even less cap space to do so. But if the Hurricanes' Cup win -- and the way the playoffs shook out in general this season -- taught us anything, it taught us that you don't need to overspend on a goalie to make it far.

The Panthers have some question marks approaching, but per usual under Bill Zito, they kicked things off with an emphatic exclamation point.

Losers: Florida Panthers' Opponents

Bruce Bennett/Getty Images

Look, hurt and tired or not, the Panthers didn't make the playoffs in 2025-26. There's some concern there that this roster is aging and that the rat pack might be running out of steam. The Panthers have something to prove headed into next season.

But there's a really good chance that they prove it. They shut it down in 2025-26, and it was like the rest of the East emerged ready to make the most of not having to play the Panthers. The Hurricanes finally thrived in the ECF and won the whole dang thing.

The Panthers, returning healthy with the addition of Brady Tkachuk, automatically re-emerge as a threat in the East again. And when this team is a threat, no opponent is safe.

The roster is aging, Bobrovsky is likely gone, and Florida has to work a little harder to get back to back-to-back dominance status. But this team loves having something to prove, and it finally got a full offseason to recover.

Winner: The Trade Market

Dave Reginek/NHLI via Getty Images

It's been a quiet few seasons of free agency as GMs, players, agents, and fans have adjusted to the new CBA and increasing salary cap. You know what hasn't been quiet in the meantime, though? The trade market.

We're seeing some of the biggest moves in trades now, mostly because these big-name players are waiving no-movement or no-trade clauses and exerting their power.

Dylan Larkin has reportedly requested a trade out of Detroit, and he's got an NMC. Darnell Nurse has reportedly requested a trade out of Edmonton -- you guessed it: no movement clause. There are so many more possibilities heading into draft week as we consider the context, players with no movement clauses, and the league's current landscape.

Could Auston Matthews move on from the Maple Leafs now that he's seen a fellow Team USA captain on a Canadian team do the same, or are these things unrelated and being blown out of proportion by disappointed fans? Elias Pettersson's got a no-movement clause as the ground crumbles underneath him in Vancouver.

We haven't even mentioned players like Vincent Trocheck, who have no-trade clauses. Trocheck's got a 12-team no-trade list, which gives him significant power as the Rangers look to deal him.

Free agency might not be panning out the way it has in the past lately, but the drama and excitement are still there on the trade market.