Outside of Brady Tkachuk's first-period goal, there might not have been any stretch of time on Wednesday where the Ottawa Senators fans at the Canadian Tire Centre weren't booing their former captain.
It wasn't just the booing. Signs galore were brought to the arena, spectators cheered when defenseman Artem Zub completed a check on Tkachuk, and almost every chant in the Tkachuk-brother-dedicated chapter of The Book of Creative and Somewhat Hurtful Hockey Chants - the first spinoff to The Mike Babcock Saga - was brought out by the Sens Army.
Since I don't condone bullying (but still found the game hilarious to an extent), I'm not going to re-write, re-tweet, or repost any of the chants. What I will do is give the San Jose Sharks broadcasters props for reading every single chant on live television.
Even the most dedicated Montreal Canadiens fans were in on the act; Céd from HFTV was at the game on Wednesday.
But among the Canada-wide unity (I know, it's rare) and subsequent celebrations, a stark message was conveyed to the Edmonton Oilers as they got off to an 8-1-1 start. With superstars galore quitting on their respective franchises, Connor McDavid's second contract negotiation could very well set off another chapter of what is becoming a very noticeable trend.
We've seen this story in the past, and I've already covered the first few stages of the Tkachuk turmoil from an Edmonton perspective, specifically concerning how the situations were similar and how the fallout of the younger Tkachuk's trade to Florida can be seen to motivate superstars to craft Cup contenders in their own image.
This time around, it seems that front offices have found some leverage. The Jets held out for as long as they could before getting a good return for Connor Hellebuyck; the team-imposed suspension can also be seen as a response mechanism employed by teams against superstars forcing their way out at the expense of their own team.
But hey, if you can't quit on them, drain them. Props to the Jets for trying.
But first, let's talk about the game
The Senators played what could easily be interpreted as their best game in the last decade.
Even with the Tkachuk goal and showboating in mind, the Senators players were extremely locked in. Tim Stützle levelled the scoring before the end of the first period, and the Senators eventually pulled ahead by a pair before the end of the second period; Claude Giroux and Shane Pinto scored the two goals in that period. The final frame saw ex-Oiler Warren Foegele and Stephen Halliday bring the Senators' goalscoring tally to five on the night.
Beyond the goals, there was a lot of fighting. And when I say a lot of fighting, I mean that quite literally.
And almost every time there was a fight, the youngest Tkachuk was on the receiving end of part of the skurmish. By the end of the game, the two Tkachuks and Sam Bennett - who collectively make up the most school bully-esque forward line of the season - spent time both on the ice and in the penalty box.
The entire Florida Panthers line of Brady Tkachuk, Sam Bennett, and Matthew Tkachuk are in the penalty box 😠pic.twitter.com/YNZUP5HBXc
— Maietta Sports Media (@MaiettaSports) October 22, 2026
With Tkachuk being another one of the handful of gold medal-winning USA Hockey players that forced or is attempting to force their way out of their respective franchises, it's safe to say that the Sens made their own statement.
It kind of harks back to what Thomas Chabot said after the Tkachuk trade: "I'd be lying to say I was happy when he decided to leave."
And he's not wrong. No matter if you're a Sens, Oilers, or even a Jets fan, you want players to show up and to wear your logo with pride. Even if Tkachuk and Hellebuyck did that (not assuming they didn't), their actions do bring their passion for their respective cities into question.
And it shifts the spotlight to McDavid in what could be a game-changing way for his future with the Oilers.
Connor McDavid is on high alert ...
While McDavid would almost certainly refrain from bailing on the Oilers unless he absolutely needed to, we've seen this story pan out before in different Canadian markets.
Matthew Tkachuk never wanted to re-sign in Calgary, while Quinn Hughes didn't like the direction of whatever the Vancouver Canucks were trying to achieve.
It's not just a Canada vs United States sentiment. Dylan Larkin is roping the Detroit Red Wings through a far-more-complicated and far-more-headache-inducing trade saga.
To contradict myself a little bit, it's actually been the franchise that trades the superstar that wins in the short term, at least in an on-ice fashion. Outside of the Sens, the New York Islanders, Buffalo Sabres, and Calgary Flames all won their respective revenge games against John Tavares' Toronto Maple Leafs, Jack Eichel's Vegas Golden Knights, and the elder Tkachuk's Florida Panthers.
There's also precedence to this trend in the Oilers' own history. The first head-to-head matchup with the Los Angeles Kings since Wayne Gretzky was traded to the team saw the Oilers pull off an 8-6 win.
It remains to be seen how Hughes' return to Vancouver is going to be received this weekend (there's a chance it'll be somewhat positive since he actually tried to win there and Vancouver's shortcomings weren't his doing), whether Winnipeg Jets fans will give Hellebuyck a pass when the New Jersey Devils head north for a mid-November contest (they definitely won't), or if the chorus of boos greeting Larkin after he eventually gets traded will be greater in scale than they were during the Red Wings' home opener (they probably will).
But how each of those ends up going could spell some bad news for McDavid if he were to eventually jump ship.
... but is it all bad news for the superstar forward? Is it bad news for the Oilers?
That said, we need to be a little bit wary about these revenge games.
After all, they're just one or two instances of an 84-game schedule. While they could easily set off in-season trends and runs of form, they're not necessarily the biggest make-or-break games in terms of the NHL season.
It's also worth noting that the Islanders, Golden Knights, and Panthers have seen more success than the Leafs, Sabres, and Flames since the respective moves. The Isles contested two Eastern Conference Finals, the Golden Knights made it to two Stanley Cup Finals (winning one of them), and the Panthers have made it to three championship rounds (winning a pair).
As for the Leafs, Sabres, and Flames?
Toronto has won two postseason rounds since signing Tavares, Buffalo only recently made it back to the playoffs, and Calgary is in a roster revamp.
The Canucks are only starting to experience what the latter three teams are going through, the Senators are hopefully looking to find their way around it, and it remains to be seen if Winnipeg can avoid that same fate. Toronto Maple Leafs general manager John Chayka should be looking on very carefully and planning for when Auston Matthews becomes eligible for an extension (it seems he's being quite proactive about it - another early positive surrounding his tenure in Toronto).
If the Oilers move on from McDavid or vice versa? It'll become a situation of short-term gain and long-term pain.
Maybe a Cup changes things.
Maybe a superstar's quarrel with their team isn't truly as draining and as de-motivating as one might think. The Sens are certainly out to prove that trend wrong.
But for now, unless McDavid continues to visibly fight for the badge (at least on the ice, he very clearly is), the Oilers are slowly circling the drain that superstar-loaded teams before them have fallen through.
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