Before his NHL career with the Ottawa Senators began, Brady Tkachuk seemed to be rather excited about the potential of playing for the Edmonton Oilers.
The odds of it working out were never likely, as the Oilers held the tenth overall pick. Tkachuk wound up going fourth to the Sens.
Nonetheless, the Oilers interviewed the highly-talented 25-year-old, and according to a story from Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman on the 32 Thoughts Podcast, he would have relished the opportunity to suit up with Connor McDavid and company for one big reason in particular.
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“I heard a great story this week that when Brady Tkachuk, during his draft year, met with the Oilers, they asked him would you be happy to come here, and he said something along the lines of, ‘I would love to come to Edmonton and take on my brother five times a year,’” Friedman said.
At that time, of course, his brother Matthew was well on his way to becoming a star player with the Calgary Flames. Matthew has since moved on to the Florida Panthers, but hockey fans can’t help but wonder how fun it would have been to see the two go head-to-head in what is arguably the best rivalry in hockey.
Not landing Tkachuk didn’t end up being the worst scenario for the Oilers, as they were able to land a stud of their own in Evan Bouchard six picks later. Still, it would be quite something to see a player with Tkachuk’s tenacity and goal scoring ability play alongside the likes of McDavid and Leon Draisaitl.
By all accounts, things have worked out quite well for Tkachuk where he’s at now. Though the Senators haven’t had a ton of team success, he’s developed into one of the game’s best power forwards, and became the organization’s captain three years ago.