Senators captain Brady Tkachuk on the trading block.

It isn't very often that you hear whispers about a team in the National Hockey League looking to trade their captain so, when that kind of talk starts to bubble up to the surface, you can expect it to make headlines.

That is exactly what is currently happening in the city of Ottawa right now with big time rumors surrounding the future of Ottawa Senators captain Brady Tkachuk, rumors that suggest the Senators and Tkachuk may be looking to go their separate ways.

It was St. Louis Blues insider Jeremy Rutherford who shared the latest developments on the Tkachuk situation in Ottawa during a recent ESPN interview in which he was asked about the possibility of Brady Tkachuk joining the ranks of the St. Louis Blues.

"To talk about Brady Tkachuk," began Rutherford on ESPN 101. "I think going back to that report last year, Whitney with Spittin Chiclets hearing that Tkachuk could be available, I think there's something to it."

"I think that he is likely is available," added Rutherford.

Tkachuk going to the St. Louis Blues makes a ton of sense from a narrative perspective when you consider the fact that the Tkachuk boys grew up in St. Louis while their father, Keith Tkachuk, was a player for the St. Louis Blues. It would also be a pretty cool story for Brady to get the opportunity to play for Keith's old team.

Keeping that in mind, it seems not at all surprising that the Blues themselves are interested.

"Obviously the Blues would have some interest," admitted Rutherford. "He's in that age bracket that they keep talking about... and I think most of all what he would do for this team is bring that passion that I think we've seen they've been lacking on a lot of nights."

Rutherford even dropped 2 names that he believes could potentially be in the mix in a Brady Tkachuk trade to the St. Louis Blues.

"I think that would be a situation where they are looking for players who can come in and help immediately," said Rutherford. "Is that a Pavel Buchnevich? Is it Jordan Kyrou? I think they are gonna want some offense and they are gonna want some players that can try and make them a playoff team now."

There will no doubt be a host of other teams interested in Tkachuk should he become available, and it sounds like he is indeed available.