Michael Andlauer, Steve Staios Address Batherson Trade Chatter and More

After a short trip to the NHL Combine currently taking place in Buffalo, Ottawa Senators owner Michael Andlauer and general manager Steve Staios held court Friday at the Canadian Golf & Country Club in Ashton, ON, in advance of tee-off for the Senators Alumni Charity Tournament.

In association with the Senators Community Foundation the event supports “First Assist,” which helps Indigenous youth access organized sports and educational opportunities, and the Canadian Armed Forces “Soldier On” program, which assists in the recovery of ill and injured veterans and members of the CAF through sport and recreation.”

Before Andlauer taking any questions, he put out the fire, quashing any rumours of his club shopping forward Drake Batherson, stating chatter was “totally false” from the team’s end.

The trade rumours were enough of a concern that the Senators GM reached out to their second-leading scorer this past season.

“I mean, it’s it’s not often that I do. I know things get out there, and or are written, and that there’s no truth to it, but when it was written on back to back days, I was informed that it was out there a couple days in a row. I talked to our players often through the off season anyway, but I just thought the timing was right to make sure that Drake knows that there’s no truth to it,” said Staios.

To his extent, Steve Staios added Batherson “didn’t seem concerned at all, really.”

Andlauer touched base on the prospect of spending up to the $95.5 million salary cap and the challenges of signing free agents in a heavily taxed Canada.

“You know, we’re a small market team. We did well in the playoffs with our gate, but some teams did two and a half times more revenue than we did. So it gives you perspective of, you know, where HRR is and where we fit in. I’m okay with that. I think we’ll be competitive.” explained Andlauer.

“I think that’s why Belleville is such an important piece of ensuring that we we draft well and we develop properly, so we have the advantage of having great players at an entry level salary, but that’s a process, and it takes time. But right now, we’re close to the cap and over the next couple of years, we have a core group of players who are going getting into their prime, and we want to make sure we support them and make sure that if it allows us to get over the top and win the Stanley Cup, that’s what we’re gonna do.”

Steve Staios reiterated Andlauer’s messaging, “I think it’s hard to tell, because I think you know, a lot of these players might not make it to free agency and get resigned by their teams. We may continue to work internally with our group. You’re always trying to improve your team and this is an opportunity to improve our team through the off-season in around the Draft, but it’s only one opportunity.”

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Andlauer noted that choosing a city to play in should be about more than settling for a favourable tax situation, “It’s (Ottawa) is a great place to live. I think you can ask them, a lot of our players, they recognize that. So when you’re making a decision to go to a team, it’s not just about the dollars and tax rates and the likes. It’s the conditions. It’s the environment, and Ottawa is just such an accepting city.”

The Senators owner offered some comedic relief when asked if he remained hopeful, NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman would rescind the organization’s penalty of forfeiting their 2026 first-round pick, “Did I say I was hopeful? I think I said I was gonna go on my knees and plead for forgiveness, is what I was gonna say, even though it was never on my watch. And I’ll keep on reiterating that. But I think at the end of the day, would I be hopeful? I would love it. I think it at the end of day, just be a good citizen. And you know, do what’s right for our club, but also do what’s right for the NHL.”

On Senators pending free agents, Steve Staios met with Pat Brisson, the agent for Claude Giroux while at the Combine and said “dialogue is ongoing…You want to find what’s fair, and it takes two sides. We want to find some common ground.”

The GM told assembled media, the team hasn’t ruled out re-signing any of their potential free agents, “I think we continue to work through it. You know, there’s a process to how every team handles it, including us. And so we’ll see. We have our priorities of what we want to do, and then fitting it all into the cap and in the strategy, with that moving forward, that’ll all you know, take effect. I mean, UFAs that we’ve had on our team that are UFAs now, we’ve really liked all of them.”

The Senators are currently slated to select 21st in the opening round of the Draft. Staios stated they’re “pretty much open to anything” if a trade offer comes their way, but does like the player pool likely available when it comes to the pick.

“We look at every draft a little bit different, but we’re sitting at 21 and as we look at the list and watch the players that could potentially be there, we’re growing more excited about the pick.”

One final morsel of information: Steve Staios confirmed that defenseman Nick Jensen underwent hip surgery, but did not provide specifics.

The Senators GM told Full Press Hockey, “He’s been doing very well. I mean, it is a period of time that he’ll be out, we’re not sure, but knowing Nick in the way he’s going to attack his rehab. Can he expedite his return to play most likely with him? I don’t really have a timeline on it, but certainly is something that I think we’re hoping that he could get through, but once we revealed exactly what it was, we knew that it was something that needed to get taken care of. And full credit to him, playing through what he did and to play at the level that he did.”