'That Was Not Sold Out': Matthew Tkachuk Disputes Senators' 17,010 Crowd for Brady's Return

File photo: the Canadian Tire Centre in Ottawa before a match in 2022. This is an archive image, NOT a photo of the October 21 game or this week's podcast. Photo: Quintin Soloviev, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

Two weeks after the loudest night of the Ottawa Senators' season, the Tkachuk brothers have decided the story isn't over. Matthew Tkachuk went on the brothers' Wingmen podcast this week and said, flatly, that the sellout the Senators announced for his brother Brady's return to Ottawa never happened. "It was good. It was a loud 15,000," Matthew said. "They say it was sold out. I was there. I had my eyes. That was not sold out."

That is a small dispute about 2,010 seats, and the perfect sequel to the messiest divorce in recent Canadian hockey. In Ottawa, nobody is really arguing about attendance math. They are arguing about who tells the story of the night their captain came home wearing the wrong jersey.

Matthew Tkachuk sellout claim: 17,010 announced, 15,000 by his eyes

Here is what is not in dispute. On Wednesday, October 21, Brady Tkachuk skated into Canadian Tire Centre for the first time as a visitor, wearing a Florida Panthers jersey, and the building greeted him with a wall of boos. The Senators announced a sellout of 17,010. Brady scored the opener on a power play at 10:00 of the first period — assisted, almost cruelly, by Matthew — then skated past the Ottawa bench. Owner Michael Andlauer later revealed on the Coming in Hot podcast that Brady told his former teammates, "Some things never change, eh boys?"

Ottawa answered with five unanswered goals — Tim Stützle, Claude Giroux, Shane Pinto, Warren Foegele, and Stephen Halliday — and won 5-1. The crowd chanted "You eat crayons" and "We don't need you." Brady finished with three penalties and a minus-2 rating in 13:13 of ice time, watching the end from the room after a late scuffle with Ridly Greig.

Why a sellout claim is harder to prove than it sounds

Matthew's claim deserves a fair hearing, and a dose of reality about how hockey buildings count crowds. An announced "sellout" usually means tickets sold or distributed, not every seat filled at puck drop. People buy tickets and don't show up. Suites sit empty. Fans arrive late. So a building that looks like 15,000 to a player on the ice can still be a legitimate 17,010 on the box office report — and a player on the ice is not counting heads, he is soaking in noise.

That said, Matthew was not guessing from a television screen. He played in the game, on the same ice, in front of the same crowd. The quote travelled fast — TSN, theScore, and hockey sites across Canada picked it up within hours, and it became a top trending search in the country on November 5. Whether he is right about the number almost doesn't matter now. The remark landed because it fits what Senators fans already believe, that the organization oversold the night, and what Panthers fans already believe, that Ottawa can't let go.

Brady Tkachuk's Ottawa exit still stings two weeks later

Remember why this night carried so much weight. Brady spent eight seasons in Ottawa after being drafted fourth overall in 2018, captained the club from 2021, then told the organization at the end of last season he would not re-sign, with two years left on his contract. Ottawa traded him to Florida on June 21 so he could play alongside Matthew. He has 8 goals and 8 assists in 15 games as a Panther. Ottawa, at 9-6-1, sits one point ahead of Florida, at 8-5-2, in a tight Atlantic Division race.

That context is why a podcast jab about attendance still draws blood. For Senators fans, the October 21 game was supposed to be closure: the 5-1 win, the chants, the sight of their old captain losing his cool. Matthew's comment reopens it by suggesting even the crowd number was dressed up. For the brothers, the podcast is just what it has always been — two siblings who enjoy needling a fan base that spent a night serenading one of them with insults.

So where does it end? Probably on January 18, 2027, when the teams meet again — this time in Florida, where the crowd math will be somebody else's problem. Until then, the rest of us have a reminder that in hockey, the box score settles the game but never settles the argument. The Senators won 5-1. That part is not in dispute, and no podcast can take it back.

Sources

TSN, November 4, 2026; theScore, November 4, 2026; NHL.com, October 22, 2026; House of Hockey, November 4, 2026.