It’s fitting that Brady Tkachuk can celebrate Thanksgiving in his hometown of St. Louis with more on the table than turkey and stuffing.
The Senators’ captain will rejoin the team on Friday in St. Louis six weeks after injuring his thumb when he crashed into the boards against Nashville in the team’s home opener.
There was quite a lot of worry in Ottawa that the Senators may struggle without their captain, but the team actually shot up all the way to fourth in the Eastern Conference standings after compiling a tidy 11-5-4 record in his absence.
“I’m super proud of the effort they put in, and how everybody just elevated the standard,” said Tkachuk to the team’s media, assembled on a Zoom call Thursday afternoon to speak to him ahead of his impending return.
“For me, I’m just looking to join into that and join what they’ve been building for the last six weeks. They’ve been doing an amazing job and I’m just so excited to be able to join them and elevate them any way I can.”
Tkachuk stressed that he’s not aiming for perfection right away but is trusting the skating and conditioning work he’s put in since he started skating again just six days after having surgery to repair the ligaments in his thumb.
“For me, it’s adapting to situations, adapting to the way the game’s going. For me, I know what my mindset is going to be [Friday], it’s simple and a work ethic game, and not going to think about anything I can’t control,” said Tkachuk.
“Really going to be focused on just simple things that I can control, and of course, work ethic is going to be my number one.”
Tkachuk said that his main focuses as he practiced leading up to his return were power skating with Sens technical skating specialist Shelley Kettles and also stickhandling.
“The number one [aspect] that I feel most confident with right now is my skating and conditioning,” said Tkachuk.
“I feel like I’m going to be able to do it shift in and shift out. Honestly, for me, I put a lot of emphasis on stickhandling. When I was able to, I was stickhandling a lot, and I feel like my hands are improving, and I’m more confident. Really tried stickhandling with my head up, did a lot of practice with that for the last little bit. Feeling confident out there where I don’t have to look at the puck and can look for plays and know that the puck’s on my stick.”
Tkachuk’s return will give Travis Green even more options in the top six. Previously, Tkachuk and Tim Stützle played together, while Drake Batherson slotted in on the second line. Tkachuk isn’t focused on the specifics, though, and just wants to inject energy into a team four games into a season-long seven-game road trip.
“I just want to [be] full of emotion, full of energy, and use my freshness to my advantage,” said Tkachuk. “I’m really excited and I’m going to try to create that excitement, positivity, just that freshness of coming back, and I know I’m going to give whatever it takes to help the team and help what they’ve built.”
Tkachuk said it didn’t become clear to him when exactly his timeline would put him back into the lineup until a couple of weeks ago, but agreed that it seemed fitting the six-week mark would see him suit up in his hometown a day after his parents welcomed the team and staff over for Thanksgiving dinner on Thursday afternoon.
“I guess it just happens to work out, there’s always a reason for stuff that happens, things that you can’t really predict, and don’t make sense” said Tkachuk.
“But for it to work out that St. Louis was going to be the first game where I’d have to opportunity to come back in front of family and friends and everyone that supports me, it’s made the recovery a little bit better and something to set my eyes on, set my goals towards.”
