TKACHUK STILL IN TALKS FOR NEW CONTRACT
Meetings have been `positive' with hopes that winger will attend training camp
Brady Tkachuk is one of the last restricted free agents left standing for the Ottawa Senators. General manager Pierre Dorion continued his busy off-season Friday by signing winger Drake Batherson to a six-year, $29.85-million deal and next up is getting the 22-year-old Tkachuk signed to a new deal.
While Dorion didn't want to take away from the excitement surrounding the decision by the organization to get the deal in place, he did confirm talks with Tkachuk's Toronto-based agent Craig Oster of Newport Sports are continuing and progress is being made.
“This is Drake Batherson's day and I think we should give Drake his due credit,” Dorion said. “All I'm going to say about Brady is that we're not going to negotiate in public. We've had productive, positive discussions with Brady's camp.”
The expectation is by the time camp gets underway Sept. 22 at the Canadian Tire Centre, Tkachuk will be there. The two sides have done a good job keeping the talks under wraps, but by all accounts they've been cordial discussions and they're both trying to get a deal in place that will allow Tkachuk to come to camp.
It's been stated in this space before the Senators would like to get Tkachuk signed to a longterm contract and award him with the captaincy at the end of camp. The decision by Carolina Hurricanes' winger Andrei Svechnikov to sign an eight-year deal worth $7.75 million per season is a strong comparable for the Senators to use with Tkachuk. Whether the Senators and Tkachuk settle on that kind of term remains anybody's guess. The reality is one way or another it will get completed and if any team actually did threw an offer sheet Tkachuks's way then the Senators would just match.
But if Tkachuk has been waiting to see what would happen in this off-season before making a decision, then the signing of the 23-year-old Batherson to a deal is another indication owner Eugene Melnyk will keep the core of this team together. If Tkachuk signs an eight-year deal then there's a good chance he'll be the captain.
Defenceman Thomas Chabot is entering the second year of an eight-year, $64-million extension he signed just before the start of the 2019-20 campaign, while centre Colin White has four years left on his deal. Centre Josh Norris and winger Tim Stuetzle, who were both NHL rookies last season, are part of the core as well.