It may look and feel like summer out there but assuming calendars can still be trusted, it is in fact the month of September.
And you know what happens in September, don’t you? Hockey.
Not the regular season kind but close. Soon, players will be showing up in the best shape of their lives. Soon, coaches and management will be speaking to the media but not really saying anything. Soon, we’ll find out if the Senators still have that hilarious fish-eye lens. Anticipation is building!
But before any of that, Pierre Dorion and the Ottawa Senators need to hammer out a few more RFA contracts. Brady Tkachuk, Drake Batherson and Logan Brown all need new deals and with teams and players ramping up for a new season, you can expect those talks to heat up.
Everyone seems to agree long-term is the ideal outcome when it comes to Brady Tkachuk. On Logan Brown, there seems to be a “just take the damn qualifying offer” consensus.
Drake Batherson’s deal may be the most interesting of the three.
Batherson is coming off a breakout year, of sorts. After spending a couple seasons bouncing around between the NHL and Belleville, Batherson was finally able to carve out an everyday role for himself with the Senators.
It’s pretty clear that in this case, the organization’s patience has really paid off. In just 56 games, Batherson scored 17 goals and registered 17 assists. Add those two numbers together and you get a tidy 34 point season for the 23-year old forward. Over an 82 game season, that’s pretty much a 50-point season. Not bad for his first full season in the NHL.
Fact is, Batherson has put up points everywhere he has played. In the QMJHL, in the AHL and now in the NHL, Batherson has proven himself to be a productive offensive player.
Pierre Dorion and the Senators now have to decide what that production is worth going forward and whether or not there is some untapped offensive potential to Batherson’s game.
It’s not particularly enlightening but what we know is the Senators have discussed a range of options with Batherson. Anything from a short-term bridge deal- think two or three years- and a longer term extension, going as long as six years.
The deal the Islanders just signed with 24-year old Anthony Beauvillier just signed gives you some sense of where the salary for Batherson might land. Similar age and production although with a lot more NHL experience than The Drake. Jordan Kyrou’s deal with the Blues is another interesting comparable. Same age and same production. He ended up getting just $2.8 mil a season on a two-year deal. If they go longer-term, it’s likely to cost north of $5 mil a season.
The Senators obviously see Batherson as a key piece of what they’re building here in Ottawa and now it’s about finding a deal that works for both sides.
In this instance, you can make a pretty good case for either approach. Signing Batherson to a bridge deal keeps his salary and cap hit low for now and gives the team another couple years to find out exactly what they have. Meanwhile if they did go longer term, there’s a chance Batherson continues to develop his offensive game and ultimately, saves the team some cap space and salary dollars down the line.
And so we wait.
With players expected to start arriving in Ottawa over the next couple weeks, it should be a lot easier to start hammering out these last three deals. Also, me writing a post about what might happen with Batherson’s contract should help move things along too.
Only a matter of time now.
What do you think Batherson’s new contract will look like? Do prefer a short-term bridge deal or a longer-term gamble?
