MANALAPAN, Florida — Ottawa Senators owner Michael Andlauer didn’t mince words Monday when it came to a recent report out of New York regarding his captain Brady Tkachuk.
While being careful not to mention the New York Rangers by name, he called the report in the New York Post that said that the Rangers were targeting Brady Tkachuk in a potential trade “soft tampering.”
The comments came during a wide-ranging sit-down interview with The Athletic on Monday morning ahead of the NHL’s Board of Governors meetings.
The report came from Hockey Hall of Fame columnist Larry Brooks. And there’s no reason to doubt Brooks reporting that he believes the Rangers are targeting Tkachuk among other big-name players around the league as they look to continue to shake up their roster. That also doesn’t mean they’ve actually reached out to the Senators about it.
But even so, it rankled the Senators who view it as destabilizing for their team and their 25-year-old captain. They’ve had to deny Tkachuk trade rumors before and are getting tired of it.
“Here’s my frustration: I talk about how I care for these players, and I care for their families — you make a commitment to a team for six, seven years, you set roots in the community, you’re part of this community, there’s a lot of pressure on these young men,” Andlauer said, speaking about Tkachuk. “Yes, people might say they make millions of dollars, but the reality is there comes a responsibility with that.
“And when I see our captain, in the one year I’ve been here (as Senators owner), there’s been three separate occasions where there’s been fires we had to put out. I can tell you 100 percent there’s never actually been an ounce of discussion about Brady Tkachuk being anything other than an Ottawa Senator.”
Andlauer added that the Senators have never spoken to a team about Tkachuk.
He said he’s either frustrated with the veteran columnist Brooks if he wrote false information. Or …
“Or he’s being fed false information and if indeed he’s being fed false information, or people are giving this information from another NHL organization, I don’t know — we just had a big memo about tampering from the NHL. I might consider that soft tampering,” Andlauer said.
Now again, the Senators obviously don’t know where Brooks would have gotten his information, but either way, they could view it as an attempt to get Tkachuk’s attention, which they don’t appreciate.
“I go into this with integrity. That’s the only thing I have, in my opinion,” Andlauer said. “And when people behave that way, it’s not just about our organization, it’s about the individuals themselves and their family and their teammates.
“Because they’re all on social media and they see that. It affects something that really shouldn’t be. So for me, you’re disrupting our organization in an indirect way. And as I see it, it’s soft tampering.”
Reached by The Athletic for comment, the Rangers said via a spokesperson: “This is an irresponsible accusation and we defer to the commissioner’s office.”
In the meantime, the Senators felt the need to reassure Tkachuk with regard to the latest report.
“Of course you have to,” Andlauer said.
“There’s never been a conversation with any team about Brady,” he reiterated.
(Photo: Chris Tanouye / Getty Images)
