As the club's annual golf tournament at Rideau View Golf Club in Manotick on Tuesday, the Senators star winger said it would be nice to get a deal done before the season begins.
In their first official gathering ahead of training camp, the Ottawa Senators gathered at the Rideau View Golf Club in Manotick on Tuesday in support of the Senators Community Foundation and their work with the children and youth in the Ottawa/Gatineau region.
General manager Steve Staios and players Drake Batherson, Thomas Chabot, and Tim Stützle met with the local media before the event.
Without a contract extension in place, and given the recent developments of Brady Tkachuk’s departure and the introduction of the franchise slogan, ‘The Hill We Choose’, securing Batherson’s future with the franchise has been a key point of interest.
The right winger indicated that he would like to avoid the distractions of having negotiations linger into the season and prefers to get a deal done before camp starts on Wednesday, September 16th.
“It'd be nice just to get it done before the season and not have that distraction when the games start,” Batherson acknowledged. “I'm not sure what will happen, but hopefully it gets done before that.”
With the September 15 deadline looming, if the two parties cannot agree to an extension, Batherson will miss the window to sign an eight-year extension.
The Senators' general manager downplayed concerns about getting a deal done.
“(We’re having) ongoing discussions, really. He knows he wants to be here in Ottawa. We want him here, and typically those (negotiations) tend to work out. But until we get there, and we're not there yet, we'll continue to work on it.”
Batherson is in the final year of the six-year deal he signed in September 2021. Relative to his production, 149 goals and 364 points in 470 career games, Batherson’s current deal ($4.97 million AAV) will go down as one of the most team friendly contracts in franchise history.
Knowing that he has been underpaid relative to that production, it remains to be seen whether the allure of testing unrestricted free agency for the first time will affect negotiations. Batherson is certainly aware of the money that was thrown around during the offseason.
“Everyone knew the cap was going up, and someone was going to take a big deal,” Batherson explained. “(Kirill) Kaprisov got a big one, and then obviously (Leo) Carlsson, and then everything trickled down after that. A lot is changing, and I think it's good for the players.”
Given some of the contracts signed by similarly productive players, the expectation is that Batherson’s market value could push north of $10 million a season.
The sticker shock of seeing that value out there is a phenomenon that will fade in time, but that’s the kind of figure that will convince Batherson to stay.
Batherson said all the right things this morning, speaking positively of this market and his desire to stay.
“Obviously, it's the only place I've ever known,” Batherson stated. “Ever since I came in, everyone from the trainers, equipment staff, to the people I've met outside of hockey here, it's just felt like home to me. It's the place I want to spend the rest of my career.”
Another impending unrestricted free agent whose future has drawn attention is Artem Zub. When asked about whether there have been any contract progressions with the defenceman, Staios spent considerably less time describing those conversations.
“We've had some preliminary discussions,” Staios revealed. “But nothing to report on.”
By Graeme Nichols
The Hockey News
