OTTAWA — It will be a passing of the torch when Brady Tkachuk walks onto the Olympic stage.
Not, of course, the literal Olympic torch from the Milano Cortina 2026 opening ceremony, but rather the metaphorical one from his father Keith Tkachuk, who won silver at Salt Lake City 2002.
And don’t forget brother Matthew, who will join Brady on Team USA in Italy.
“Can’t believe it’s kind of knocking at the door here,” Brady said before heading abroad. “Whenever you wear your country’s jersey, your colours, your flag — you just feel this immense amount of pride.”
The brothers are trying to accomplish something their father, who represented Team USA at three Olympics, never did: win gold.
“As a kid, you switch between scoring the game winner for the Stanley Cup and scoring the game winner for a gold medal,” Brady said.
The Tkachuk brothers attended the 2006 Torino Olympics as spectators and family members.
“I remember my dad taking us through the Olympic Village. And I mean, now looking at it in my perspective, there’s really no family or kids allowed. So, I don’t know how he did that or got the permission to do that,” Brady said.
“So that was really cool. And seeing Alex Ovechkin, Evgeni Malkin in the cafeteria and the Russia gear, that was really cool. And, yeah, just going to his games and watching him and having our face painted and stuff like that. So, it was a lot of fun.”
Due to the time difference and travel hurdles, the third generation of Tkachuks, Brady’s son Ryder, won’t be in Milan. Maybe Brady can watch his son Ryder Tkachuk at the 2050 Olympics?
As for these Games, it’s been a long road for the Senators’ captain.
He first started envisioning going to the Olympics with his brother Matthew four years ago.
“I was on the outside looking in (for making Team USA in 2022), but, yeah, that was kind of the first time. Like, OK, this could actually happen,” Brady said about playing with Matthew.
NHLers didn’t go to the 2022 Olympics due to COVID. Since then, the younger-but-larger Tkachuk brother has taken his game to another level. He isn’t just the sidekick anymore.
Brady has compiled 249 points in 272 games since the start of the 2022-23 season.
The Tkachuk brothers both elevated their profiles at last year’s 4 Nations Face-Off — and that tournament can be a template for playing on an even bigger international stage.
Canada-U.S. has long replaced Canada-Russia as international hockey’s greatest rivalry.
“It was almost the perfect storm. Where it was the real world and then also hockey,” Tkachuk said on a CBC documentary.
The Tkachuks are at the centre of the rivalry. Within three seconds of the first U.S.-Canada battle beginning in that tournament, two fights featuring two Tkachuks had already taken place.
The fight had been orchestrated by the bash brothers and J.T. Miller.
There was also an infamous group chat started by the Tkachuks before that game about fighting the Canadians, which led to Brady becoming one of the pre-eminent faces of USA hockey.
“We’re out there playing for the flag, not the cameras,” Canada’s Brandon Hagel remarked in reaction.
The Tkachuks were inspired by their father, who fought in the 1996 World Cup of Hockey against Canada, where he did in fact bring home the gold medal.
“Can’t believe all the things that my dad could do there, of course, to see the fights and he got kicked out, and all the battles,” Brady said in the documentary.
“Just seeing the kind of hate that they had then, and how they wanted to be the best.”
Fighting doesn’t fall far from the genetic tree, apparently.
“Once we found out about the 4 Nations, (we thought) how sick would it be just to square up at centre ice versus Canada,” Tkachuk said.
Expect Brady Tkachuk to take centre stage again in Italy if another Canada-U.S. matchup takes place.
Unfortunately for him, there is no fighting allowed in the Olympics.
“I’m not going to change a thing. I think I’m going to use the skill set and my attributes that got me there,” he said.
Brady Tkachuk can be one of the best players on the ice in the biggest of games. But it won’t just be imposing his physical will. One advantage Tkachuk will have in Milan is that the rink will be three feet shorter than the NHL standard. Be ready for loads of hits.
“I’m one of the few that’s going to like the change, I guess. But yeah, obviously won’t know until we get there and see if it really is a difference maker or not,” he said.
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He scored in the 4 Nations final and was inches away from an OT winner.
“He was such a beast,” said Team USA and Senators teammate Jake Sanderson about Tkachuk’s performance. “I think he put his name on the map, but it was nothing out of the ordinary for me to see out of him.”
Expect the same in Milano Cortina 2026.
“He’s going to be a man possessed,” said Shane Pinto. “When he’s coming downhill, it’s hard to stop, and you definitely don’t want to get hit by him.”
Tkachuk isn’t worried about getting acclimated to the pace or to his teammates’ elite level when the Olympic Rings surround him in Italy.
“It’s the best players in the country. So, I think everybody’s able to adapt pretty quickly,” he said. “For the most part, everybody, I would say, thinks the same way, but smart enough to adapt to the players they play with.”
What Tkachuk learned from the 4 Nations was acknowledging the magnitude of the moment.
“This is going to be make or break and play like it’s (your) last game and Game 7.”
Regardless, the younger Tkachuk brother could be on a collision course for hero status with Team USA hockey. And we presume many Senators fans will be as conflicted as ever if Canada plays Team USA.
Don’t be surprised if the Tkachuks are each others’ wingmen in Italy. At the 4 Nations, they shared a line with Jack Eichel in the gold-medal final, which produced Brady Tkachuk’s goal.
It’s likely the two partners in hockey warfare will feed off each other at times throughout the two-week sprint of a tournament.
However, both siblings left the 4 Nations with season-altering injuries, which forced Brady to miss most of the regular-season push for the Senators. Matthew missed the rest of the regular season, only to come back, win a Cup and then have off-season surgery on a torn adductor.
Senators fans will be knocking on maplewood and praying to the hockey gods in the nation’s capital, remembering Dominik Hasek’s season-ending injury suffered in the 2006 Winter Olympics.
What we know, thanks to the 4 Nations, is that Brady Tkachuk is ready for the moment.
His dad never won the last game of an NHL season or got golden hardware from an Olympic games. Matthew Tkachuk has done the first — winning two Stanley Cups in Florida.
Now, Brady and Matthew are trying to cement the Tkachuk name as forever golden.