Ottawa Senators captain Brady Tkachuk said his father Keith Tkachuk was talking about Matthew Tkachuk’s team, not his, when recently criticizing players for being unavailable due to injury.<\/p>\n
“I thought it was clear as day. He was talking about the Florida Panthers,” Tkachuk said after a Thursday night win over the Buffalo Sabres that allowed the Senators to climb into the Eastern Conference’s second Wild Card spot.<\/p>\n
Tkachuk continued, “What people twist and say, I know what I was a part of, and all those things didn’t come out of my mouth. <\/p>\n
“I completely respect my dad. He’s going to be a Hall of Famer, so I’m not gonna put words in his mouth, or explain what he said. If you know him, he’s an outgoing guy, says what he thinks. And I know it comes from a good place.”<\/p>\n
Tkachuk was addressing the conversation that took place around the 37:00 mark of Wednesday’s episode of Wingmen with Matthew and Brady Tkachuk<\/a>, when Keith was talking about playing with a broken wrist during his own NHL career.<\/p>\n “That’s what happens. You play through injuries, guys,” Keith said. “Holy Christ, this whole team. ‘Ah, my pinky hurts! I’m out for six days!'”<\/p>\n “I knew that was coming. I knew right when he said that, I’m like, don’t say it. I’m like, don’t you say it,” Matthew laughed.<\/p>\n “I just had a bad sleep, so I can’t play tonight,” Keith continued. “Oh, my God. Disgusting.”<\/p>\n Keith went on to name goaltender Grant Fuhr, who set a single-season record<\/a> by playing 79 games for the St. Louis Blues in 1995-96, as an example of toughness from his era in the NHL.<\/p>\n His comments took place at a point in the season when the two-time defending champion Panthers are missing a host of key players due to injuries, including Aleksander Barkov, Brad Marchand, Sam Bennett, Sam Reinhart, Anton Lundell and Evan Rodrigues.<\/p>\n They also were aired shortly after Senators coach Travis Green told reporters<\/a> he had wanted goaltender Linus Ullmark to start during last Saturday’s loss to the Tampa Bay Lightning, but that Ullmark “needed a rest and he wasn’t available to start tonight.”<\/p>\n