Vinnie Parise Thu, October 22, 2026 at 2:20 PM UTC · 3 min read About Our Ads Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Over the summer, the Ottawa Senators traded their captain, Brady Tkachuk, to the Florida Panthers following a trade request. Of course, Brady joined his brother Matthew, who had already been with Florida for a couple of years.
On Wednesday, Brady returned to Ottawa as a road player for the first time in his career. He was met with an incredibly negative reception, which he was expecting. Whether it was passive-aggressive comments by both sides pregame, boos during his tribute video, R-rated chants during play, booing him every time he touched the puck, or extra physical play against him, there is noticeable resentment between Tkachuk and his old team and fans.
At 10:00 of the first period, Brady Tkachuk continued his showman routine by scoring the first goal of the game. From there, it was all Ottawa. They scored 5 unanswered goals and sent Brady home with a whimper.
The Chicago Blackhawks organization hasn't dealt with a situation like that recently, as most of the returning star players received loud ovations from a crowd that adores them. Examples include Jonathan Toews with Winnipeg and Patrick Kane with Detroit.
However, there was one notable instance where a returning player received a similar negative reception as Tkachuk did on Wednesday. That came on April 17th, 1999, when Chris Chelios returned to Chicago as a member of the Detroit Red Wings.
Earlier that season, the Blackhawks traded Chelios to their bitter rival, and the fans let him have it in his return. Chelios wasn't a Blackhawks lifer, as he was a Montreal Canadiens draft pick before playing there for 7 seasons. However, he is the Chicago-raised, Mt. Carmel native son who did play for the Blackhawks for parts of 9 years, so the fans felt a connection to him before he left.
In that game where Chelios returned to Chicago with Detroit, Red Wings head coach Scotty Bowman took him out of the game and sent him to sit with Michael Jordan in the press box. He finished the game with just 3:19 of ice time. Bowman felt that Chelios being involved kept the Chicago crowd in the game.
He may have been right, because the Blackhawks hung on to win 3-2 thanks to Tony Amante's 44th goal of the season during the third period. JP Dumont and Ed Olczyk were Chicago's other two goal scorers in the win.
Although fans didn't love Chris Chelios that night or for many years after, those hard feelings have since melted. Not only did the Blackhawks retire his number, but he is also an official Team Ambassador here in 2026.
Is Brady Tkachuk's departure for a division rival going to end the same way that Chris Chelios' did? Probably not, but he had a good run as a star player in that market.
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Source: Sports
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