Captain Brady Tkachuk ready to return for Senators in hometown of St. Louis

OTTAWA — The Ottawa Senators will get a major boost when captain Brady Tkachuk returns on Friday.

Tkachuk is slated to return to Ottawa’s lineup against the St. Louis Blues, ending a six-week recovery from a thumb injury that required surgery. He was hurt on Oct. 13 against the Nashville Predators, in just the Senators third game of the season, and underwent surgery four days later.

“It was a long six weeks,” Tkachuk said. “It was tough stretches, or some highs or some lows and I’m just so grateful to have the opportunity to be playing again.”

Ottawa (12-7-4) managed an impressive 11-5-4 record without Tkachuk. He said that being forced to watch from afar only deepened his appreciation for his teammates and his hunger to rejoin them.

Tkachuk said the early days after the surgery were challenging, especially on a personal level.

“Yeah, no, I was useless the first couple weeks,” he said. “I felt really bad for Emma (his wife). I couldn’t really help out with (his son) Ryder, and definitely couldn’t do stuff around the house.”

When he started his rehab, Tkachuk didn’t initially realize that St. Louis, his hometown, was lining up as the target date for his return.

The 26-year-old said he mixed up the dates and thought he would be returning at the start of the Senators’ current road trip and then halfway through recovery realized the game against the Blues would be the six-week mark.

The schedule coincidence ended up being a motivating force for him.

“For it to work out that St. Louis is going to be the first game where I have the opportunity to come back in front of family and friends and everybody that supports me, it’s made the recovery a little bit better and something to set my eyes on, set my goals towards,” said Tkachuk.

A fierce competitor, Tkachuk said it was hard to not be contributing on the ice.

Being in the press box meant watching teammates battle without his help, something he described as the toughest part of the entire process. But seeing the team succeed in his absence made him eager to help keep things going.

“I’m super proud of the effort that they put in and just how everybody elevated their standard,” he said. “And, for me, I’m just looking at joining that and join what they’ve been building for the last six weeks, and they’ve been doing an amazing job.”

The team’s resilience stood out for Tkachuk over the past six weeks.

“The biggest one for me is the maturity and finding ways to win,” he said. “There’s been games where it hasn’t been the prettiest, but you find a way to get a point or squeak out a big two points.”

Tkachuk’s recovery, not surprisingly, was aggressive. He was back on the ice, without a stick, six days after surgery. He added in some power skating sessions, conditioning skates and at the four-week mark added stick work.

“I thought the shooting would take a little bit longer, but the shot felt pretty good right from the start,” said Tkachuk, adding that the extra training had him feeling even better than before the injury.

If Tkachuk couldn’t make his return in Ottawa, St. Louis was the next best place.

“We only come here once a year, and now I feel like it always happens around Thanksgiving,” he said. “I’m very grateful for because a lot of my friends are going to be around this weekend.”

Tkachuk said he’ll lean on his conditioning to smooth his transition back into the game.

“I know that the two things I’m going to trust, the work that I put in, trust all the skating, all the condition, all the bag skates that turn that steep hill into just kind of like a steady road,” said Tkachuk. “And honestly, I think this might come out, but not expect perfection right away.”

The three-time all-star had three assists and a plus-one defensive rating in his limited play to start the season. He had 29 goals and 26 assists last season.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 27, 2025.