Senators' Batherson trying to finish strong after season of highs and lows

If a hockey player can experience a lifetime of ups and downs in a single season, Drake Batherson might qualify this year.

The Senators’ six-foot-three, 205-pound winger was his team’s best player for the first three months of the schedule, was named Ottawa’s representative at the NHL All-Star Game, then missed the ASG and two full months of action when a minor league-recall goalie recklessly blindsided him, causing a high ankle sprain. In other developments, Batherson contracted COVID-19 in November and just last week was hit by a flu virus that caused him to miss three more games and lose 10 pounds, just as he was trying to rediscover the form that made him Ottawa’s lone all star.

Through it all, 36 games missed and still with 40 points in 41 games, Batherson somehow maintains that chill East Coast attitude. Publicly, he is as forgiving as bible scripture toward then-Buffalo Sabres goalie Aaron Dell, who derailed his season, and vows to get back his A+ game, which may take a trip to the World Championship in Finland to achieve.

Batherson took some time out from Ottawa’s western swing to talk on the phone about his wild season and slowly improving health and form.

“I was actually telling the boys the other day, I’m still down about five pounds,” Batherson says from Seattle. “But I’m trying to eat as much as I can right now to get the weight back up. I’m definitely feeling better as the games go on here and my energy is starting to come back.”

Batherson looked good against the Toronto Maple Leafs on Saturday night, comfortable alongside centre Tim Stützle and left wing Alex Formenton. The entire team looked a little sleepy in Seattle during a loss Monday, but rebounded to beat a desperate Canucks team in a shootout Tuesday. Formenton scored twice in regulation and Batherson provided a key shootout goal while playing 21:20 on the night, his highest ice time in nearly a month.

With so little racetrack left – just five games on the schedule – Batherson is just trying to get fully healthy again.

“I mean, I don’t feel 100 per cent yet,” he says. “Being out two months with an injury, then you come back and you’re out again for a week – lost 10 pounds. I feel like the body was just in a bit of shock there for a bit. But I’m starting to come around full circle.”

High ankle sprains can be tricky to heal. They’re notorious for flaring up again. In Batherson’s case, he says the ankle has held up pretty well.

“I have the odd tweak here and there, but it only lasts for about 30 to 45 seconds and then it’s back to normal,” he says. “The trainers have done a great job here. I feel it’s close to 100 per cent. Probably not quite. I’m not a doctor. But it feels pretty good.”

The average Senators fan has already cussed out Dell for his reckless hit on Batherson in a 5-0 rout by the Sens over Buffalo on Jan. 25. Batherson, who had already scored a first-period goal on Dell, was moving at a high rate of speed beside the net, heading behind the net to forecheck when Dell sent him crashing into the boards.

Batherson is so mature and classy about this wrongdoing, it’s easy to forget he is still just 23.

And Dell, a journeyman 32-year-old goaltender, never reached out to see how Drake was doing.

“I’m sure if he could go back, take it back, hopefully he would,” Batherson says. “I feel like fluky stuff like that happens every season to different guys. It’s just unfortunate and there’s nothing I can do about it now so there’s no sense dwelling on it.

“Unfortunately I had to miss the All Star Game, and more importantly, just the season in general. I’ve played 40 games (41 now) and the team is at (77), so it’s a little frustrating. Hopefully I will get the opportunity to play at the Worlds, since I’ve missed so much time.”

Senators head coach D.J. Smith has already been named as an assistant coach to Canada’s head coach Claude Julien at the World Championship (with former Ottawa 67’s head coach and current Arizona Coyotes head coach Andre Tourigny also going as an assistant). So, Batherson has spoken to Smith about his eagerness to play.

“Hopefully I will get the chance to represent Canada,” Batherson says. “I got the opportunity last year but me and my agents decided that in a contract year we didn’t want to risk injury. I saw the boys win last year and I was pretty jealous that I could have been there to celebrate with them, but I’ve heard nothing but good things about the tournament.”

Senators teammates Connor Brown and Nick Paul (since traded to Tampa Bay) combined for the golden goal at last year’s tournament. Batherson likes the idea of playing hockey in May, partly to prepare for the future when Ottawa is playing playoff hockey in May, and perhaps beyond.

Fortunately, that contract got done last summer, and the Senators have Batherson locked up on a team-friendly, six-year contract with an AAV of just under $5 million. That’s a bargain for an elite winger, which Batherson showed himself to be, prior to the ankle injury.

Finish the season strong

“I was out so long I feel like when I came back I was so out of rhythm with everything,” Batherson says. “So I just want to find my game. You know, I thought I was playing some of the best hockey of my career before my injury so I’d love to get that momentum back. I feel like it’s coming.”

Though Batherson is clearly Ottawa’s top right winger, Smith likes the idea of having two strong lines, so he has put Batherson with Stützle and Formenton, leaving Josh Norris and Brady Tkachuk on the first line (for now, with Connor Brown).

“Obviously I’ve had a few setbacks with the illness, COVID and the injury and stuff but I just want to build towards next year.” Batherson says. “The biggest thing right now is just getting chemistry with Formy and Timmy so when I come into camp next fall we’re comfortable with each other so we can get out of the gate hot and hopefully have a good start to the season next year and push for a playoff spot.”

Who knows what the lines might look like by October. But a strong start is a must.

A helpful chirp by Marchand

When his season is finished, likely in Finland in late May, Batherson will return to Nova Scotia, take a few weeks off and play tons of golf on his home course in the Annapolis Valley, the KenWo Golf Club.

By late June, Batherson will start skating once a week and build up to twice a week in July. In August, the intensity ramps up.

Famously, Batherson trains with elite NHLers Sidney Crosby, Nathan MacKinnon and Brad Marchand in Halifax, where Batherson gets to talk shop, pick brains and observe what it takes to be a top player in the NHL.

As the story goes, Batherson got chirped pretty hard by Marchand, the king of chirps, when the Senator was a first-year pro and just learning what it meant to really be in shape.

“Brad is best friends with Chris Kelly, who at the time was our development coach,” Batherson says. “They played together with the Bruins, and he just gave him a call and Kelly called me back and said, ‘is what I’m hearing true, you’re out of shape?!’”

That Halifax group takes great pride in their summer training, and demands the highest of standards from those deemed worthy to join in. It wasn't just Kelly, Marchand also told another Sens development coach about Batherson’s fitness level. Batherson looks back lightly now on the episode, saying it was “fun and games” and “just Marchy stirring the pot,” but he took the underlying message to heart.

“You know, I was only a young guy then, I was 21 years old,” he says. “So, I looked up to all those guys. It was a little bit of a wakeup call. It wasn’t like I wasn't training hard or anything, but he gave me a bit of a hard time. We’re good buds now.”

No worries about Batherson going easy in the summer any more. Last year, he started training with Andy O’Brien, Sidney Crosby’s longtime personal trainer. It was MacKinnon who invited Batherson to train with them every day.

“It was an eye-opener for me,” Batherson says. “A whole different style of training than I was used to, and it was exactly what I needed at that point in my career. I felt unreal coming into the (2021-22) season, so I don’t think I’ll be leaving (O’Brien) anytime soon. He’s a really smart guy and a Maritimer, so we get along really well.”

Batherson has huge respect for O’Brien’s work with Crosby and the Penguins, his Stanley Cup pedigree and a proven ability to have his clients ready to perform, not just in the fall, but all season long. Far removed from the era of heavyweights, O’Brien focuses on body movement, flexibility and strength – but with an emphasis on speed, not bulk.

“My body just felt great all summer, and I just felt like I had a lot of energy,” Batherson says.

Skating and training with Crosby, MacKinnon and Marchand is a bit like a young musician getting to hang with virtuosos. They don’t lecture a younger player like Batherson, but if he has questions about a player or situation, Crosby et al are all ears.

“They tell me straight up what they’re thinking on a certain player, or whatever it is,” Batherson says. “They’re always willing to answer and help me out, and I feel that’s the Maritime way. Everyone’s got each other’s backs. Everyone’s doing what they can to get better and help each other out and I can’t thank them enough, they’re unbelievable guys.”

Speaking of Martimers, are the Senators growing their fan base down east with the likes of Batherson, Thomas Chabot and prospect Egor Sokolov all coming out of the QMJHL Saint John Sea Dogs organization, not to mention Batherson’s permanent ties to Nova Scotia?

“We’re trying, obviously,” Batherson laughs. “It’s tough to compete with the boys. There’s a lot of Bruins fans in Nova Scotia, and with Nate and Sid – Colorado and Pittsburgh. I go into the Sport Chek store in the summertime and there’s a lot of Boston, Colorado and Pittsburgh jerseys. Not many Sens. Hopefully, in the years to come, when we start winning a little more we can fill the stores up with some Sens jerseys.”

Particularly No. 19 Sens jerseys.