While the Ottawa Senators and star forward Drake Batherson have begun negotiations on a contract extension for the 28-year-old, the two sides “aren’t close” to a deal, sources told Postmedia’s Bruce Garrioch earlier this week.
According to Garrioch, the Senators “face a significant challenge” in trying to keep Batherson, a pending UFA, from hitting the open market next summer. Garrioch wrote that the player is “expected by league executives to command as much as $10 million to $11 million per year” on his next deal as a free agent, a figure that should shatter the existing salary structure in the Canadian capital.
The Senators’ current highest-paid player is star No. 1 center Tim Stutzle, who costs $8.35MM against the cap. The team’s No. 1 defenseman, and No. 1 goalie, each earn slightly below that number.
While Batherson is now Ottawa’s No. 1 winger after the departure of captain Brady Tkachuk via a trade to the Florida Panthers, he has not quite reached the same level of stardom as the aforementioned key Senators, such as Stutzle, Jake Sanderson (who has finished Top-10 in Norris Trophy voting for two consecutive seasons), and Linus Ullmark, who is a Vezina Trophy winner.
But despite the fact that Batherson hasn’t reached the same heights at his position as his teammates have at theirs, market forces are working heavily in his favor. Various other wingers in his position, who have consistently scored at a scoring pace in the high 60s and low 70s of points have gotten massive contracts either from their own team, or on the open market.
30-year-old Alex Tuch received a $10.5MM AAV on his free-agent deal with the Washington Capitals earlier this summer, after scoring 33 goals and 66 points.
The New York Rangers coughed up an $11MM AAV on their contract with 25-year-old Pavel Dorofeyev, a winger who is a superior goal scorer to Batherson but also someone who has eclipsed 60 points in a season just once.
Given the way the salary cap is rising and the market is trending for high-end talent, it’d be difficult to imagine Batherson earning less than $10MM on his next deal, assuming he can build on his strong 2025-26 season. This past year, Batherson was one of Ottawa’s most consistent players, scoring 33 goals and 71 points in 79 games. That ranked second on the team, only behind Stutzle.
He’s also one of the only Senators players who can claim to have played well in the playoffs, as his three goals and four points in the team’s four-game first-round loss to the Carolina Hurricanes led the team in scoring by a wide margin.
With all of those factors in mind, it’s tough to imagine the Senators letting Batherson walk to free agency. He’s simply too important to their team and they are a franchise with no intention of taking a competitive step back. That was evidenced by the team’s decision to immediately flip the No. 9 pick in this past draft, which they received in the Tkachuk deal, for immediate reinforcement in the form of William Eklund.
But with the amount of leverage Batherson is likely to hold, and given the fact that each day that passes is another day closer to unrestricted free agency, it’s tough to imagine these will be easy negotiations for the Senators. The chances of keeping Batherson from becoming the team’s new highest-paid player seem to have all but evaporated.
Photos courtesy of Perry Nelson-Imagn Images