- League sources say the Senators and Drake Batherson “aren’t close” on an extension
- Executives peg Batherson as high as $11 million a year on the open market
- Read below for the comparables both sides are using and where Artem Zub’s talks stand
Ottawa’s most important contract of the summer is going nowhere fast.
Bruce Garrioch of the Ottawa Citizen reported Tuesday that league executives expect Drake Batherson to command as much as $10 million to $11 million per season on the open market. League sources told the paper the Senators and their leading scorer “aren’t close” on an extension.
Batherson is 28 and has one year left on the six-year, $4.975 million deal Pierre Dorion handed him in September 2021. He becomes an unrestricted free agent next summer.
The production is there. Last season brought 33 goals and 71 points in 79 games, both career highs and the first 30-goal year of his career. Of his 149 career goals, 109 have come in the past four seasons.
Check out the two-goal night he had against San Jose in March:
Two contracts anchor the Senators’ side of the math. Tim Stutzle at $8.35 million and Jake Sanderson at $8.05 million are signed deep into the next decade, and the club considers them its two best players.
Adrian Kempe is the name on the other side of the table. A league insider told the Citizen that Batherson’s camp is likely leaning on Kempe’s eight-year, $85 million extension with the Kings, which pays $10.625 million a season.
Alex Tuch moved things again when he took an eight-year, $84 million contract from Washington through a sign-and-trade before free agency opened. Tuch scored 33 goals last season. Batherson scored 33.
Waiting only makes it worse for the Senators. The salary cap climbs to $104 million next season and is projected to hit $113.5 million in 2027-28.
Back at Ottawa’s end-of-season media day in April, Batherson was asked how open he was to staying with the Senators long term.
“Yeah, for sure. I haven’t thought a lot about it, to be honest with you. We just lost a few games ago, but I’m sure my agent and them will talk July 1st.”
Here is the full exit-day session from that afternoon:
Artem Zub is the other pending free agent Steve Staios says he wants signed. Zub’s agent, Dan Milstein, told the Citizen on Monday that nothing has started on that front.
“We have not exchanged thoughts on contract at all. I would imagine we would speak about it in the coming weeks or in early fall,” Milstein said.
Staios waited until the eve of the 2024-25 season to get Linus Ullmark signed. Camp opens in September, and every week Batherson goes unsigned pushes his price closer to the open market.
