Senators owner alleges ‘soft tampering’ as Rangers eye Brady Tkachuk

A report by The Post’s Larry Brooks that states the Rangers are interested in Ottawa captain Brady Tkachuk has drawn the ire of the Senators.

At the NHL Board of Governors meeting in Florida on Monday, Ottawa owner Michael Andlauer did not hold back in expressing his displeasure with seeing Tkachuk’s name out there.

He even went as far as calling the report “soft tampering,” according to The Athletic.

Senators captain Brady Tkachuk.

“Here’s my frustration: I talk about how I care for these players, and I care for their families — you make a commitment to a team for six, seven years, you set roots in the community, you’re part of this community, there’s a lot of pressure on these young men,” Andlauer told Pierre LeBrun. “Yes, people might say they make millions of dollars, but the reality is there comes a responsibility with that.

“And when I see our captain, in the one year I’ve been here [as Senators owner], there’s been three separate occasions where there’s been fires we had to put out. I can tell you 100 percent there’s never actually been an ounce of discussion about Brady Tkachuk being anything other than an Ottawa Senator.”

Brooks reported that Tkachuk has become the Rangers’ primary target, noting that a trade for the 25-year-old forward would require a major return like Alexis Lafreniere and immediately change the team’s identity.

Andlauer told The Athletic the Senators have never spoken to a team about Tkachuk.

That was not mentioned in The Post’s report.

Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman reported earlier this month that the NHL reaffirmed its position on cracking down on tampering in the aftermath of the leak of Rangers president and general manager Chris Drury’s trade memo to all 31 other GMs.

The league reportedly sent out a message reminding teams and employees the consequences of tampering.

Rangers president and general manager Chris Drury.

Senators owner Michael Andlauer.

NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly re-stated that teams can face up to $5 million in fines, contract terminations and forfeiture of draft picks and assets to the impacted teams, per Friedman.

“This is an irresponsible accusation and we defer to the commissioner’s office,” the Rangers said in a team statement.

Jimmy Vesey was a healthy scratch Monday night against the Blackhawks, which counted as the second time he watched from the press box in the past four games.

As a result, Brett Berard returned to the lineup for the first time since sustaining an upper-body injury on a hit from Canadiens forward Kirby Dach.

After missing three straight games, Berard slotted on to the right wing of the fourth line next to Adam Edstrom and Sam Carrick.

Goalie Dylan Garand was returned to AHL Hartford on Monday since Igor Shesterkin was back in net after the birth of his second child.

Shesterkin turned aside 30 of the 32 shots he faced in the 2-1 loss to Chicago.

The Rangers will be off on Tuesday before they head to Buffalo to face the Sabres for the second time this season on Wednesday.