Ottawa Senators forward Drake Batherson said Tuesday he wants to stay with the team long-term and is hoping to sign a contract extension before the season starts.
Batherson is a pending unrestricted free agent, carrying a cap hit of $4.95 million in the last of a six-year deal signed in 2021. While he won’t hit the open market until next July, a Sept. 16 deadline looms before the max contract term drops to seven years from eight for players re-signing with their current team.
“It would be nice to get it done before the season and not have that distraction before the games start,” Batherson said at the team’s annual golf tournament. “(General manager Steve Staios) knows I want to be here. They’ll keep moving forward and hopefully something gets done.”
Batherson, 28, recorded 33 goals and 71 points in 79 games with the Senators last season. He added three goals and four points in four playoff games before his team was eliminated in the first round.
“Drake’s an important player and certainly continue to find a way to make him an Ottawa Senator for a long time,” Staios said of contract talks between the two sides. “...He wants to be here in Ottawa and we want him here. Those tend to work out.”
Drafted 121st overall by the Senators in 2017, Batherson has 149 goals and 364 points in 470 career games.
Keeping Batherson could be of new-found importance for the Senators after losing a core piece in captain Brady Tkachuk earlier this summer, honouring his trade request in a deal with the Florida Panthers.
Ottawa currently has forwards Tim Stutzle, Shane Pinto and Dylan Cozens, along with defencemen Jake Sanderson and Jordan Spence, locked up through at least 2029-30.
