OTTAWA — The discussion at the Senators’ annual Foundation charity tournament on Tuesday was, by all public accounts, the kind both sides hoped to have. Drake Batherson told Steve Staios that he wants to remain in Ottawa. Staios called Batherson an important player and said the organization feels the same way. Both confirmed that negotiations are ongoing.
Still, the gap has not been closed.
Five days remain before the NHL’s new collective bargaining agreement takes effect and the maximum extension term falls from eight years to seven. During that period, the Senators and their 28-year-old right winger are attempting to bridge a divide that multiple reports describe as substantial. Both sides want an extension. The disagreement is over its cost.
Batherson is entering the final year of the six-year, $4.975 million contract he signed in 2021. He will become an unrestricted free agent on July 1, 2027. An extension signed before September 15 could run for up to eight years, keeping Batherson under contract through his age-36 season, during the height of his earning potential. After September 15, the maximum term will be seven years, while a player who reaches unrestricted free agency can sign for no more than six years with another club.
For Batherson, the deadline involves more than contract length. It determines how many guaranteed years of top-level compensation he can secure before the open market establishes his value without the certainty that comes with familiarity.
His market value has been evident. Last season, Batherson recorded 33 goals and 38 assists for 71 points in 79 games, all career highs. The performance established him as Ottawa’s second-leading scorer and its most productive homegrown offensive winger since the club rebuilt around its current core. Across 470 NHL games in seven professional seasons, he has scored 149 goals and recorded 364 points. He is not a player defined by a single strong season. He is the right winger the Senators have built much of their offensive identity around.
That designation is not an obstacle. It is a consequence of what the player has become for this franchise. The problem is not what Batherson would cost. The problem is that Ottawa and Batherson are not yet in agreement on what he costs, and the window to give him the maximum term closes in five days.
In Dallas, Jason Robertson had already said no to Seattle’s maximum offer and returned to a franchise that drafted him, leaving the Stars to figure out what number would make him say yes on their terms. In Buffalo, the Sabres and Tage Thompson were converting a public statement of loyalty into a contract before the calendar made the gesture irrelevant. Ottawa is trying to do something different from both: sign a player who has publicly committed to the city, who has every reason to want the deal done, to a contract neither side has yet agreed on after a full summer of talks.
The Senators currently carry roughly $4.1 million in cap space. A Batherson extension beginning in the 2027-28 season would not draw against that figure immediately — the extension would kick in after his current deal expires next summer. But the negotiations are happening in real time, against a deadline that does not move, on a number that sources say has not yet reached the point where either side can say yes.
Ottawa opens training camp September 16 — the day after the deadline. Their first regular-season game is October 3 against Toronto. General manager Steve Staios, who rebuilt this roster around a core of young talent including Tim Stutzle and Thomas Chabot, has structured the team around a long-term window that requires Batherson at the center of it. Losing him to unrestricted free agency in 2027 does not end that window, but it changes what it looks like in ways that are difficult to recover from in a salary-cap league.
The leverage here is different from Dallas or Buffalo. Robertson had leverage because he had already demonstrated he would walk away from maximum money to preserve his choices. Thompson had leverage because the Sabres had no clear alternative. Batherson’s leverage is simpler and more reciprocal: he is the player Ottawa most needs to retain, and he has said publicly that he wants to be retained. The question is whether that mutual stated desire is worth a number neither side has committed to on paper.
After September 15, the calculus shifts. Batherson would still have one year of his contract remaining, would still be a Senator in 2026-27, and the organization would still have the ability to offer him an extension through the season. But the maximum term of any future deal drops to seven years, and the negotiating position changes. Batherson entering the final year of a deal with the eight-year window closed is a different thing than Batherson entering the final year of a deal with the eight-year window still open. The deadline gives both sides a reason to move. What it has not yet given them is the number.
Batherson told Staios he wants to be here. Staios told the room the organization wants him here. Five days remain for one of them to say how much.
