Senators Star Refuses to Address Media After Losing First Round to the Maple Leafs
Photo credit: Screenshot
An Ottawa Senators star refused to speak to the media after being eliminated from the first round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs by the Toronto Maple Leafs.
Being eliminated in the first round isn't easy for players who worked hard all year to reach the playoffs, only to see their hopes of winning the Stanley Cup crushed less than two weeks after the end of the regular calendar.
It's especially hard for a team like the Ottawa Senators, who made the playoffs for the first time in eight years, only to be eliminated by the Leafs in six games.
While the weight of the loss can still be felt in the locker room, most players who were requested for end-of-season interviews agreed to meet with the press to answer questions.
In a new development, we learned that one of the team's top forwards declined to speak publicly after the elimination.
Drake Batherson refuses to speak to the press after struggling in the playoffs
The 27-year-old forward Drake Batherson was limited to two points in the six playoff games he was a part of, and finished with a -4 goal differential.
This was the player's first NHL playoffs, and it showed on the ice. The last time he took part in playoff action was in 2018, in the QMJHL, when he was 19 years old.
After being eliminated by the Leafs, Batherson denied the interview requests from the press, according to the Senators' PR team:
Most team leaders agreed to talk with the press despite the elimination, such as Brady Tkachuk, Linus Ullmark, and Thomas Chabot.
Read their comments here:
"We want more, and we believe that we have this group, and we trust that everybody from Mr. Andlauer down has the same vision-that we really want to accomplish and share this whole experience and these memories with this community as well." - Brady Tkachuk
"Playing with these guys and seeing how they adapted from game one to game six was a lot of fun. I'm very proud, and I'm very happy and motivated seeing that, okay, the guys got it.
It wasn't that we got run out of the building four straight like people might've thought when we lost the first one. No, we took it to three overtimes, we won one of them, and we got one on the road." - Linus Ullmark
"We're going to go into next season, and it's not going to be any easier to get into the playoffs. We saw how tight it was this year; it's going to be the same thing, if not even harder, next year.
You've got to look back on this season, everything we accomplished, how big of a step we took as a group, and you've got to focus on that this summer.
Everybody's got to go home and do what they need to do to come back as healthy as they can be and as ready as they can be for next season." - Thomas Chabot
"Playing with these guys and seeing how they adapted from game one to game six was a lot of fun. I'm very proud, and I'm very happy and motivated seeing that, okay, the guys got it.
It wasn't that we got run out of the building four straight like people might've thought when we lost the first one. No, we took it to three overtimes, we won one of them, and we got one on the road." - Linus Ullmark
"We're going to go into next season, and it's not going to be any easier to get into the playoffs. We saw how tight it was this year; it's going to be the same thing, if not even harder, next year.
You've got to look back on this season, everything we accomplished, how big of a step we took as a group, and you've got to focus on that this summer.
Everybody's got to go home and do what they need to do to come back as healthy as they can be and as ready as they can be for next season." - Thomas Chabot
| POLL | ||
MAI 4 | 316 ANSWERS Senators Star Refuses to Address Media After Losing First Round to the Maple Leafs Do you think the Senators will trade Drake Batherson this summer? | ||
| Yes | 124 | 39.2 % |
| No | 192 | 60.8 % |
| List of polls | ||
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