The Ottawa Senators are sitting on a contract situation that could turn messy fast, and Drake Batherson is right in the middle of it.
According to Bruce Garrioch of the Ottawa Citizen, Batherson and Ottawa are not close to a deal on his next contract. The 28-year-old forward wants an eight-year contract, while the Senators apparently do not.
That matters because the calendar is working against both sides. Under the current collective bargaining agreement, Sept. 15, 2026 is the last day a player can sign an eight-year deal to stay with his current team.
After that, the maximum drops to seven years for a player remaining with his club, and six years if he signs elsewhere.
For Batherson, the math is simple. He will be 29 when the season ends, and he would clearly prefer to lock in eight years now instead of waiting until next July, when the best he could get would be seven years at his current team or six with a new one.
Ottawa’s calculation is just as straightforward. An eight-year deal would run Batherson through age 37, and a seven-year contract would take him to 36.
That’s where the tension comes in. If Ottawa won’t meet Batherson’s ask, he may not accept the kind of extension the team wants to offer.
And after losing captain Brady Tkachuk this summer, the Senators are in no position to let another major piece walk out the door without a return. Losing Tkachuk and Batherson in back-to-back years would be a rough look for a franchise that has already seen plenty of rough looks.
If the two sides reach an impasse, Ottawa would have to trade him. Batherson is too young and too good to let leave for nothing. And if a trade is coming, Batherson and his camp would almost certainly want it done quickly, so he can try to land that eight-year deal with his next team.
At the same time, Ottawa was in the playoffs last year and wants to get back there again. Moving one of its better players is not the ideal path.
But if the Senators hold firm and Batherson misses out on the eight-year extension he wants, the situation could curdle. Resentment in a locker room is never helpful, and a bad room can drag a season down in a hurry.
That’s where the New York Rangers enter the picture. If this thing is going to get unstuck, they should be paying close attention.
Before anyone starts talking trade packages, though, there’s a bigger question: should the Rangers give up anything for Batherson at all?
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