The Ottawa Senators’ playoff run came to a dispiriting, deflating end with a four-game sweep by the Carolina Hurricanes, but Matthew Tkachuk believes the story goes deeper than the final result. With criticism mounting around Brady Tkachuk and Ottawa’s early exit, Matthew offered a blunt explanation for why the Senators may have been fighting an uphill battle from the start.
Matthew Tkachuk on What Doomed Brady Tkachuk and the Senators
Ottawa’s 2025-26 season was one of the league’s best turnaround stories, until it ran into Carolina. By late January, the Senators sat last in the Atlantic Division and were 10 points out of a playoff spot, looking all but finished.
Then came the push. Despite losing six defensemen to injuries in March, including key blueliners Thomas Chabot and Jake Sanderson, Ottawa battled through adversity and surged into the postseason with a 13-5-1 finish. Tim Stützle led the charge with 83 points, while Linus Ullmark found his game in net at the right time.
But once the playoffs began, the offense disappeared. The series was competitive, but Ottawa never found momentum, losing 2-0 in Game 1, falling in double overtime in Game 2, dropping Game 3 by a 2-1 score, and seeing its season end with a 4-2 loss in Game 4. For a team that fought all year to get there, the sweep raised major questions.
Captain Brady Tkachuk also found himself under the microscope after recording no points and a minus-4 rating in the series.
His brother Matthew, however, pointed to a far bigger issue than Brady’s stat line: health. Matthew said he felt for Brady because of how much he poured into trying to win, but believed injuries made the task nearly impossible. He noted Carolina’s ability to protect leads and score timely goals, but emphasized Ottawa’s battered blue line as the real difference-maker.
“Ottawa, I think, had 10 or 11 D play in four games. That number, you’re not winning. I don’t care what team you are or how deep your roster is, you just can’t possibly win when that many guys are banged up, that many guys are missing time. Health is the number one thing in playoffs. If you stay healthy, you have a better chance of winning,” the Panthers star said.
In his view, health is everything in the playoffs, and Ottawa simply didn’t have enough of it. His comments offer a different lens on the Senators’ exit. While criticism has focused on Brady and the team’s lack of offense, Matthew made the case that the series may have been decided as much by attrition as execution.
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That won’t stop questions about Ottawa’s core moving into the offseason. After such a dramatic rise to make the playoffs, a sweep has reignited debate over whether this group is truly ready to contend.
As for Carolina, the Hurricanes move on to Round 2 looking every bit like a legitimate Stanley Cup threat.
