Brady Tkachuk broke up with the Senators. The reunion promises to be loud and awkward

Brady Tkachuk wanted out of Ottawa.

On Wednesday night, he’ll find out exactly how Ottawa feels about it.

The Senators dispensed with a full practice and held an optional skate on Tuesday as they prepared to host their former captain and the Florida Panthers at the Canadian Tire Centre.

It was the calm before the storm.

The Senators, their fans, Tkachuk and the Panthers have had this date circled on their calendars since he demanded a trade to play with his brother, Matthew, and was traded to Florida in June.

Tkachuk, 27, won’t be welcomed back with open arms by fans of the Senators. He will be jeered, not cheered. His tenure with the Senators finished the same way Dany Heatley’s did in 2009 and a lot like Alexei Yashin’s in 2001.

The Senators are preparing for every possible scenario. There will be extra security in the building. The club wants people to channel their emotions in the right way.

If you think Tkachuk’s return is all the rage in Ottawa’s dressing room, you’re mistaken.

“Brady’s not really a topic of conversation in our dressing room,” said feisty winger Nick Cousins. “We haven’t really talked about it at all.”

The Senators have moved on. In some ways, this will be a chance for Tkachuk and the fans to close the chapter on this book.

“I’m not going to try to speak for Brady, but I know any time a player has played in a city for a long time … . Again, being a captain of a team, there’s always some buildup to that first time back into a building, but that would be a question for Brady,” said coach Travis Green.

People in Ottawa feel misled by Tkachuk, who claimed publicly he wanted to stay with the Senators at the end of last season and then acted in his own best interests when push came to shove.

His nickname on social media is “Trady.”

“There will be a lot of emotions in the building,” Green said. “There always is when a player of that magnitude comes back.”

There will be a tribute video during the first television timeout, which will be shown on Amazon Prime’s Wednesday Night Hockey. It will highlight his work on and off the ice during his eight years with the franchise.

Yes, it will be emotional, but we don’t expect anybody to be wiping tears from their eyes. The Panthers spent part of Tuesday making the trek to Ottawa. Tkachuk isn’t trying to downplay the significance of this night.

“Of course, this is the game that has been circled, and I’m assuming that I’m not the only one that has circled this,” Tkachuk said on the Wingmen podcast with Matthew. “It’ll hit when we land, and when we’re there, just like seeing it from a different lens of not being home anymore, and the different experience going in the away room, going and staying at the hotel.”

Tkachuk joked he won’t be eating the pregame meal at the hotel the club is staying at in Kanata “because I can’t take the risk,” and noted he’d probably ask the staff to use an alias for his room.

“Your room is the only room that doesn’t have (air conditioning),” Matthew said with a smile. “I kind of want something like that to happen. That would be so funny.”

People in Ottawa didn’t really think the trade was a laughing matter.

Tkachuk has tried to soften the blow since he left the Senators by saying all the right things about the city and the support he received during his tenure as the club’s captain.

“It’s good. I’m excited. Became a father and husband during my time. It’s just a special place,” Tkachuk said. “I’ve made so many special relationships, not just with my teammates, over the years, but some of my best friends are like the trainers and the staff members, and they just have such amazing people that make that organization tick.”

Winger Drake Batherson was planning to have dinner with Tkachuk on Tuesday night. There are no hard feelings. The players aren’t the least bit concerned about the reception that Tkachuk will get.

“Probably the same as every other player in history that’s gone to a new team. I don’t know. I’m just worried about playing the game and trying to get a win,” Batherson said.

The Senators and the Panthers are both fighting for position in the Atlantic Division, and the two points will mean a lot when the National Hockey League playoff spots are decided in April.

“They’re off to a great start,” Tkachuk said about the Senators. “These are the points that matter. Of course, there is an individual side to it, but the most important is the team success.”

Tkachuk can say all the right things about Ottawa, and there’s little doubt those feelings are genuine.

But Wednesday isn’t about what he says.

It’s about what he’ll hear.

And when Tkachuk steps onto the ice at the Canadian Tire Centre wearing a Panthers jersey, Ottawa will have plenty to say.