Tkachuk, Cousins Hit With Maximum Fines After 84-Penalty-Minute Ottawa Chaos

TL;DR: The NHL Department of Player Safety handed down maximum fines on Thursday for Wednesday’s 84-penalty-minute war in Ottawa: Matthew Tkachuk was docked $5,000 for roughing Senators forward Dylan Cozens, and Ottawa’s Nick Cousins was fined $4,091.49 for unsportsmanlike conduct from the bench. The fines capped a night that began as Brady Tkachuk’s hostile first return to his former team and ended with an ejection, a 5-1 Senators win and both benches emptying into the third-period scrum.

The bill came due Thursday. The chaos happened Wednesday, and it started before the puck dropped.

Brady Tkachuk walked into Canadian Tire Centre for the first time as a Panther, eight seasons an Ottawa captain behind him, a forced trade to Florida in the rearview. The building let him have it. He was booed from before faceoff, his pregame tribute video was jeered, fans arrived with altered Tkachuk jerseys and threw several of them on the ice, and the “Brady sucks!” chants never really stopped. That was the backdrop for one of the ugliest games of the season.

What set off the third-period scrum?

A goalie injury and a Tkachuk pile-on. Early in the third, with trainers attending to Senators netminder Linus Ullmark after a routine save, Matthew Tkachuk and Dylan Cozens started jawing in front of the Ottawa bench. Then it escalated fast.

Brady grabbed hold of Cozens while his brother was still engaged. Matthew circled back and punched Cozens while the Senators center was tangled up. Cousins, sitting on the Ottawa bench, reached over the boards and tried to pull Matthew off his teammate.

The Tkachuks each got a roughing minor. Cousins got roughing plus a 10-minute misconduct. It was one of three roughing minors on the night for Matthew, who also took a high-sticking minor in the second. The final tally: 28 penalties, two fights, two misconducts, 84 minutes. The most penalized game of the NHL season, and the fines were its official price tag.

What did the league decide?

The maximum, which is the point fans are arguing about. Tkachuk’s $5,000 and Cousins’ $4,091.49 are both the ceiling under the current CBA, per Daily Faceoff. The money goes to the Players’ Emergency Assistance Fund.

It is not Tkachuk’s first trip to the DoPS window. This is his third fine, and he has been suspended twice before. For Cousins, it is the fourth fine of his career. Repeat offenders getting the maximum sounds stern until you remember what the maximum is. As one fan put it, at Tkachuk’s salary this is like a $31 fine to someone making $60,000 a year.

And that is before the part that actually angered people. Sportskeeda’s fan-reaction roundup was dominated by one question: “Where is his suspension for elbowing Greig in the head?” Tkachuk appeared to elbow Ridly Greig in the head in a separate incident, and no supplemental discipline was announced for it. Greig also featured in Brady’s night-ending ejection, when Brady got into it with the Senators forward in the final minute and was tossed while the crowd cheered “We don’t need you!”

Why did Ottawa boo its own tribute video?

Because the breakup was ugly. Tkachuk spent eight seasons in Ottawa, was drafted fourth overall in 2018, and told the club he would not re-sign when his deal ran through 2027-28. The trade to Florida in June returned two 2026 first-round picks, a 2027 second and a conditional 2029 first, per the Palm Beach Post. Fans read the exit as a choice, and choices get judged. The pregame video got the same treatment as the man: jeers, creative chants about his father and his podcast, and altered jerseys raining onto the ice. A tribute only works when both sides want the memory.

How did the game itself go?

Brady got the first laugh and Ottawa got the last one. He scored a power-play goal to open the scoring, the only Panthers highlight of the night. Then the Senators took over and won 5-1, staying ahead of Florida for third in the Atlantic. The numbers on the night: Brady has 11 points on seven goals and four assists through 10 games, with his goal total in the NHL’s top 10. Matthew has 15 points in 10 games. All of it was background by the third period.

Ullmark’s injury was the other subplot, and it has already developed further: he was placed on injured reserve Thursday with a lower-body strain, which is the Senators’ week from hell in miniature, given Chabot is out and Sanderson’s status has been its own saga.

What happens next?

Circle Nov. 25. The rematch is in Sunrise, and if Wednesday proved anything it is that these two teams do not need much of a reason. The Tkachuks return to Ottawa on March 18. In a season already full of supplemental discipline, from boarding majors to the week’s off-ice sagas, the league drew its line at the CBA maximum. The fans wanted a suspension. They got a receipt.