The Ottawa Senators have locked in one of their top forwards for the long haul.
According to Pierre LeBrun of The Athletic, the team has signed Drake Batherson to an eight-year contract worth $86 million, with an average annual value of $10.75 million. The deal came together before Tuesday’s deadline, which would have capped the maximum term at seven years.
It was a race to the finish. Both sides had made it clear they wanted something done before the season started, and the talks pushed right up to the edge.
On Sunday, Ottawa Citizen beat reporter Bruce Garrioch wrote that “time is of the essence,” as the agreement moved toward the finish line. Now that it’s done, the contract stands as the richest in Senators history.
Batherson had options if the sides hadn’t landed this deal. He could have waited until after Tuesday and still worked on a seven-year contract, or gone all the way to next summer and potentially signed a six-year deal as an unrestricted free agent. Instead, the 28-year-old chose the security of a long-term commitment now.
He’s earned it. Batherson put up 33 goals and 71 points in 79 games for Ottawa in the 2025-26 season, bringing his career totals to 149 goals and 364 points in 470 NHL games since debuting in 2018-19.
His path to this point started well before the NHL. Batherson spent three seasons in the QMJHL, skating with the Cape Breton Screaming Eagles for parts of four seasons before finishing his junior career with the Blainville-Boisbriand Armada. He also represented Canada at the World Juniors, where he scored seven goals in seven games and helped win gold.
He later added more international experience at the 2022 IIHF World Championship, where he scored three goals and finished with 14 points as Canada reached the gold medal game before falling to Finland and taking silver.
Now that the contract is settled, Ottawa can shift its attention back to hockey. The Senators open the 2026 preseason against the Montreal Canadiens with Kraft Hockeyville on Sept. 21 in Taber, Alberta, then begin the regular season against the Toronto Maple Leafs on Oct. 3.
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