A franchise-record deal before midnight
The Ottawa Senators and restricted free agent Drake Batherson are closing in on a landmark eight-year contract extension that would set a new franchise record, according to multiple reports. The urgency is real: Tuesday, September 15 is the final day under the existing NHL collective bargaining agreement that teams can sign players to eight-year deals. Starting September 16, a new CBA takes effect that limits re-signings to a maximum of seven years.
Sources have placed the annual average value of the proposed extension between $10.5 million and $11 million, with the total contract worth in the range of $84 million to $88 million over eight years. Either figure would represent the largest commitment in Senators history, clearing Tim Stutzle's existing deal at $8.35 million AAV by a significant margin. As recently as Monday morning there was still a reported gap between the two sides on the precise AAV, but the pace of negotiations accelerated sharply through the day as both camps acknowledged the hard cutoff.
Why the deadline matters
The NHL and NHLPA's new CBA, which runs from September 16, 2026 through September 15, 2030, introduces meaningful restrictions on contract length. Under the new rules, a player re-signing with his current team is capped at seven years, down from eight. Players signing as unrestricted free agents with a new club will face a six-year maximum instead of seven.
That single year of additional term carries real financial leverage. An eighth season on a deal at $11 million AAV is an extra $11 million of guaranteed money — a figure neither side is treating as a rounding error. Several teams spent the weeks before the deadline moving quickly. Vancouver locked in defenseman Zeev Buium on September 4 at eight years and $75.04 million ($9.38 million AAV), and Batherson's camp has used comparables like Alex Tuch's eight-year, $84 million deal in Washington when framing expectations.
Batherson's case for a nine-figure payday
Batherson, 26, enters the deadline with back-to-back strong campaigns as Ottawa's go-to winger. His 2025-26 season produced 33 goals and 71 points in 79 games, both career highs, making him the team's second-leading scorer behind Brady Tkachuk. His current contract — agreed to in 2021 at under $5 million annually — has become one of the better bargains in the league, which is precisely why the new number represents such a dramatic jump.
Senators general manager Steve Staios identified Batherson's extension as the organisation's top off-season priority. Batherson confirmed his desire to stay in Ottawa but set no public ultimatum. Missing tonight's deadline does not mean no deal — it means a seven-year ceiling, costing Batherson roughly $11 million in guaranteed money at the proposed rate, and likely pushing him to test unrestricted free agency next summer at an open-market value projected at $11 million or higher.
Detroit's cautionary tale
The starkest contrast to Ottawa's situation is playing out in Detroit. Defenseman Simon Edvinsson is also heading into tonight unsigned, but the Red Wings have been operating without a permanent general manager since Steve Yzerman stepped down in July. With no one authorised to execute a long-term commitment, the eight-year window on Edvinsson simply expires at midnight — and with it, an extra year of team control at a potentially team-friendly rate. Detroit's interim operations head Shawn Horcoff cannot finalise trades, let alone multi-year extensions of this magnitude.
Edvinsson acknowledged in Swedish media last week that several teams had expressed offer-sheet interest, but said he has no desire to leave Detroit. That goodwill buys the Red Wings time, but not the extra year of term they are losing tonight. Once a GM is hired and a deal eventually gets done, it will be on a seven-year ceiling — a concrete cost of the organisation's summer of drift. Ottawa, whatever the final number, will not be making the same mistake.