Brady Tkachuk embarrasses himself with immature moment with Canadiens rookie Lane Hutson

The Canadiens handed Ottawa their first loss of the season yesterday as they took home a win by the final score of 4-2. Late in the game, Canadiens rookie defenseman Lane Hutson was set up behind his own net, ready to start a breakout. Senators captain Brady Tkachuk was on the other side pf the night, appearing to mock the rookie who tried to deke him out with a head fake.

After the incident was clipped and posted to social media, the chirps started flying in Tkachuk's direction. Many fans simply pointed to the scoreboard while others made more poignant chirps, even pointing to moments earlier in the game where Hutson bested Tkachuk to contribute directly on the scoresheet.

NHL prospect analyst Patrick Bacon even went so far as to say that Tkachuk has shown a lack of leadership qualities throughout his career to this point, with this moment being the latest example.

This take might be a bit harsh, but at some point, something does have to give in Ottawa. The team named Tkachuk captain in 2021 and since then the team has flopped time and time again, despite increasing expectations year-over-year. Since 2021 the team has finished no higher than 6th in their division, posting an above .500 record just once when they went 39-35-8 in 2022-23, a season where they still lost more games than they won. While the club could explore trade options to shake things up, replacing the coaching staff and changing up the captains are less intrusive methods of sending a message. The team already did the former option so now more eyes will be on Tkachuk this season. Currently, the Senators are 1-1. It is too early to really start assessing their season, but if they struggle again, major changes could come to Ottawa.