Senators’ Brady Tkachuk to return following eight-game injury absence

Ottawa Senators captain Brady Tkachuk is set to return to the lineup for Thursday’s regular-season finale against the Carolina Hurricanes following an eight-game absence due to an upper-body injury, reports Julian McKenzie of The Athletic.

At morning skate Thursday, Tkachuk practiced on the Senators’ top line alongside fellow forwards Claude Giroux and Tim Stutzle, the latter who leads the team with 76 points counting 23 goals and 53 assists in 81 outings.

Sidelined since late March, Tkachuk has made 71 appearances with the Senators this season in which he has collected 29 goals and 26 assists to sit third in team scoring with 55 points while also headlining the squad with 123 penalty minutes. The 2024-25 campaign also saw the 25-year-old native of Scottsdale, Ariz., join Team USA at the 4 Nations Face-Off where through four games he scored three times while providing an intimidating, playoff-style physical presence.

Tkachuk returns to a Senators squad that is preparing for the 2025 Stanley Cup Playoffs as earlier this month the club punched its ticket to the postseason for the first time in eight years. For Tkachuk, who was chosen fourth overall in the 2018 NHL Draft, it will also mark his first appearance in the postseason.

A veteran of 511 career contests in which he has collected 191 goals and 213 assists for 404 points, Tkachuk’s most productive campaign came two seasons ago when he posted a career-high 83 points counting 35 goals and 48 assists coming in 82 games.

Following Thursday’s contest against the Hurricanes, the Senators will open the first round of the 2025 Stanley Cup Playoffs against the Atlantic Division rival Toronto Maple Leafs, marking the fifth-ever ‘Battle of Ontario’ and first since 2004. The two sides met three times in the regular season, with the Senators taking all three games in regulation.