Brand new Original Six team suddenly emerges in Drake Batherson trade chatter

With Sept. 15 looming as the deadline before new CBA rules cut down max contract length, the pressure on the Senators to get a deal done is only growing by the day.

Batherson is coming off a 33 goal, 71 point campaign, all while playing on a bargain $4.975M cap hit.

That kind of production for that kind of money made him one of the best value players in the league this past season, and it is exactly why his next contract is shaping up to be a massive raise.

Reports suggest he is looking for an eight year term, which he can only get if Ottawa locks him up before the deadline.

Once Sept. 16 hits, the max term for a player re-signing with his own team drops to seven years.

That looming date is turning into the real story here.

If the Senators and Batherson cannot bridge the gap in time, it changes the entire negotiation, and it could push Ottawa toward exploring what he might fetch on the trade market instead of risking him walking for nothing later.

That is where things get interesting.

With the deadline creating real uncertainty, the Rangers are now being floated as a team that should be paying close attention to how this plays out in Ottawa.

New York has shown a willingness to spend big on proven scorers, and Batherson fits the profile of a player who could slot in and produce immediately.

For now, Ottawa still wants to keep him.

But time is not on their side.

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