Drake Batherson's name just entered Montreal's orbit, and this one carries real weight given the two teams share a division.
Per Marco D'Amico on The Starr & D'Amico Show, Montreal could be interested in Batherson if Ottawa can't get an extension done with its own winger.
Nothing here suggests Kent Hughes and Ottawa GM Steve Staios are actually negotiating right now. Montreal is simply a team worth watching if Ottawa's contract situation eventually forces a real decision.
Batherson would be no ordinary pickup. He posted a career-best 33 goals, 38 assists, and 71 points in 79 games last season, exactly the kind of proven top-six winger Montreal has repeatedly explored adding.
His underlying numbers back up the raw totals too, a 56.0 expected goals percentage and 2.11 points per 60 minutes, proof this wasn't a lucky shooting season.
Career-wise, he's posted 149 goals and 364 points across 470 games, and he added 3 goals and 4 points in just 4 playoff games last spring.
Montreal already has Nick Suzuki, Cole Caufield, Juraj Slafkovsky, and Ivan Demidov forming a genuine offensive foundation. Adding a proven scorer like Batherson would deepen that top six immediately, without waiting on a prospect to develop first.
Why Ottawa trading within the division is the real risk
The real complication is Batherson's contract. He's entering the final season of a $4,975,000 deal, and reports suggest he could command $10,000,000 to $11,000,000 annually if he ever reaches the open market, with Adrian Kempe's $10,625,000 deal floated as a comparable.
Batherson hasn't actually asked out though. He's said Ottawa "feels like home" and stayed open to signing there long term, which makes this very different from a player forcing his way out.
Montreal projects around $9,784,000 in cap space, meaning absorbing his current deal would still leave roughly $4,809,000 in flexibility, a workable number before any other roster moves.
The much bigger question is whether Ottawa would ever actually send him to a divisional rival. Watching Batherson score 30-plus goals for Montreal while facing him multiple times a season is exactly the kind of risk that should make Staios hesitant.
That divisional premium likely means Montreal would need to outbid even strong offers from outside the Atlantic just to get Ottawa to seriously consider it.
Montreal does have the assets to be a real player here, drafts picks and organizational depth included, but having enough assets and being willing to spend them are two very different things.
The smarter path for Hughes is likely only pursuing this aggressively if there's real confidence an extension gets done alongside any trade. Giving up real futures for one guaranteed season would be a genuinely risky bet.
For now, an extension in Ottawa remains the most likely outcome. But if training camp arrives and Batherson and the Senators are still far apart, Montreal is exactly the kind of team that could make a real call.
Should the Canadiens pursue Drake Batherson if Ottawa's extension talks stall?
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