Senators fans bombard Brady Tkachuk with boos, creative heckles in return to Ottawa

Jeering and boos were all you could hear in Ottawa’s Canadian Tire Centre on Wednesday night when Brady Tkachuk returned to face his former team, the Ottawa Senators, for the first time since being traded to the Florida Panthers in June.

The left-winger was met with hostility from the crowd every time he touched the ice, with fans vocalizing frustration with the 27-year-old player’s decision to leave the team he’d been with for eight seasons.

A video tribute to Tkachuk from the Senators – common for players who have been with a team for long periods of time and return on a new squad – was met with boos during the first period. In contrast, Lars Eller, who played for the Senators during the 2025-26 season before leaving to join the Panthers, received a standing ovation later in the game.

Most video tributes are met with applause, such as when Minnesota Wild goaltender Calvin Pickard returned to face the Edmonton Oilers for the first time on Tuesday after spending three seasons with that squad.

In Ottawa, Tkachuk stepped onto the ice, raised his stick and waved to the crowd with a grin on his face. But that didn’t stop former fans from throwing Senators jerseys emblazoned with his name over the glass in the third period.

Chants from fans throughout the night included “Brady sucks,” “you eat crayons” and “Matthew’s better,” in reference to Matthew Tkachuk, his older brother and Panthers teammate.

Brady seemed unaffected by the response and laughed it off after the game.

“It was good,” Tkachuk told the Associated Press. “Shows the passion that they have. One chapter closed and, like I said, just an exciting new chapter that we’re living in, so it was nice being a part of this passionate fan base.”

He scored the Panthers’ only goal of the night on a power play, before the Senators netted five uninterrupted to win big. The loss snapped the Panthers’ three-game win streak.

Tkachuk was drafted by and played his first eight NHL seasons with the Senators. The American was captain of the squad from 2021 to 2026. He asked to leave Ottawa at the end of the 2025-26 season despite having two years left of a seven-year, US$57.5-million contract.

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The Tkachuk brothers were part of the U.S. hockey team that won gold at the 2026 Milan Cortina Winter Olympics, beating Team Canada in the final. Brady was traded from the Senators four months after winning gold.

He drew criticism for some of his off-ice activity after the Olympics, when he and Matthew shared a photo on their podcast’s social media account depicting a bride with American flag face paint alongside six bridesmaids painted with Canadian face paint and one with German colours.

In the 2025-26 NHL playoffs, Ottawa was swept by the eventual Stanley Cup winners, the Carolina Hurricanes, in the first round. Tkachuk failed to record a point in four games.

He scored consecutive hat tricks against the Columbus Blue Jackets and Vancouver Canucks last week, and has seven goals and 11 points through 10 games with the Panthers.

With reports from the Associated Press and The Canadian Press