Brady Tkachuk isn’t one of the huddled masses yearning to breathe free. Just an expatriate returning home.
But American hockey players are fleeing Canada.
Matthew Tkachuk left Calgary for Florida. Quinn Hughes ditched Vancouver for Minnesota. Now the younger Tkachuk has vacated Ottawa for Florida, joining his brother.
It’s a lot to do with taxes and the Canadian dollar.
But it’s also very much connected to Canada basing its self-esteem on hockey and the neurosis that produces.
Brady Tkachuk had the temerity to help the U.S. defeat Canada in the gold medal game of the men’s hockey tournament at February’s Winter Olympics in Milan.
He came back to Ottawa and was reviled. By Ottawa’s fans and by Canada’s hockey media.
Tkachuk got jeered at home.
Related
• Mark Madden: Why is Henry Davis still on the Pirates’ roster?
• Mark Madden’s Hot Take: Alexi Lalas speaks for America’s World Cup
• Mark Madden: Steelers don’t need to gamble on another quarterback
Ottawa fans booed the American national anthem, which Tkachuk clearly did not like.
How dare Tkachuk do his best, compete his hardest, and win? How dare he beat Canada?
Excuse-making holds that Ottawa fans were booing U.S. president Donald Trump, and were angry about the U.S. team taking Trump’s call after the Olympic victory.
But if you bring politics to the rink, it’s going to affect what happens at the rink.
It became an illogically uncomfortable situation given that Tkachuk was Ottawa’s best player and that the Senators didn’t stink, making the playoffs for a second straight season.
How would you like to go to work, succeed, and be made to feel miserable?
So Tkachuk has a new workplace.
Ottawa got three first-round draft picks from Florida and a second-rounder, too. But the Senators are significantly worse in the interim.
Tkachuk was likely to exit at some point. He has two years left on his contract, and wanted to play with his brother. But the attached boorishness paved Tkachuk’s way.
Who’s next to take off from the Great White North?
Here’s betting on Auston Matthews departing Toronto.
That doesn’t necessarily reflect anti-American sentiment. Leafs fans and media ran off Mitch Marner, and he’s from a Toronto suburb.
They’re equal opportunity in Toronto when it comes to being petty, vindictive and stupid.
Maybe Connor Hellebuyck leaves Winnipeg.
Florida might have traded for him, what with goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky set to become a free agent. But the Panthers used a huge chunk of their trade capital to get Tkachuk.
Florida should sign Stuart Skinner, who’s about to be a free agent and an ex-Penguin. He’s big, relatively cheap and has played in two Stanley Cup finals. This year’s playoffs showed that great goaltending isn’t currently necessary.
Ottawa fans are posturing as if they’re glad to be rid of Tkachuk, citing shortcomings real and (mostly) imagined.
But when the puck drops next season, they’ll be sorry even if they never admit it.
Let’s say Nathan MacKinnon scores in overtime to win that gold medal game for Canada.
Do you think he’d be treated like Public Enemy No. 1 upon his return to Denver?
No chance. MacKinnon would have been warmly congratulated. Recognized. Maybe chided playfully a bit.
Hockey makes Canada small-minded, not least because Canada is losing its long-held grip on the game.
When Sidney Crosby retires, or stops playing internationally, Canada will lose its heart and fade even further.
Crosby was injured and didn’t play in that gold medal game. Canada losing wasn’t coincidence.
Tkachuk moving is also another chapter in the rising degree of player power in the NHL. Players dictating where they play. Forcing hands.
The traditional hockey brands aren’t destinations anymore. Tkachuk didn’t list the New York Rangers, Chicago, Boston or Detroit among places he’d be willing to go. Not Pittsburgh or Philadelphia, either.
The NHL’s new destination teams feature warm weather, favorable taxes, interest in hockey but not the overwhelming pressure that must be endured in Canadian cities.
A Canadian team hasn’t won the Stanley Cup since 1993.
That won’t change anytime soon, if ever.