Batherson, Pinto trained with winners in summer – and it's rubbing off on the Senators

Since 2017, the summers have always been special for a guy like Drake Batherson, but the summer of 2024 was extra special for the Ottawa Senators forward because one of his teammates, Shane Pinto, got to experience it with him.

If you’ve been following the NHL for a while, you’d know that Sidney Crosby, Nathan MacKinnon and Brad Marchand all train together in Halifax, Nova Scotia, during the summers, one of the most elite groups you could think of to work on their game together. Batherson has been fortunate enough to be a part of that group.

“I’ve been skating with those guys ever since I got drafted — the summer of 2017, so it’s been eight or nine years now,” Batherson told Daily Faceoff. “It’s been awesome, man. We have such a good group of guys, we’re all super tight, so it makes for a fun summer and we love it when guys come to visit. There’s guys from all over the league — some of the best players come in and train and it’s a whole lot of fun.”

For Batherson, who grew up in Nova Scotia, it feels normal now, but for a guy like Pinto, who grew up in Franklin Square on Long Island, there weren’t many NHL superstars to train with at a younger age. Batherson and Pinto have formed quite a bond during their time with Ottawa, so it felt like a no-brainer for the two of them to spend some more time together in the off-season. 

“I don’t think Shane’s ever had a bad day, honestly,” Batherson said.

There certainly weren’t any bad days for Pinto when he was training with his childhood idol. 

“For me, I went in there so shy originally — Sid was my favorite player growing up, same with Shane’s. I think he’s the reason why Shane started playing hockey. Shane was asking me a ton of questions beforehand — I was telling him what Sid was going to be like and he couldn’t believe it. He had a blast, and I think he’s going to come back every summer now. He meshed in right away with the boys and they all loved him.

“If you’re going for beers or whatever, you want to be around Shane. When you’re golfing, you want to be in his golf group because you know it’ll be a good time.

Not only did Batherson and Pinto get to skate with these guys, but being with them away from the rink can help their personal growth as well.

“They’re honestly just regular guys that like to have fun, competitive on the course —  it’s the same as going out with your buddies and shooting the s--t, just having a good time.” Batherson said.

He emphasized that, despite what people may have heard about MacKinnon, when he’s comfortable around you he’s a “super chill” guy — back at the NHL Player Media Tour, MacKinnon told Daily Faceoff that Batherson happens to be the best golfer in the NHL — but for anything MacKinnon does around the rink he is intense and dialed in. 

For a team like the Ottawa Senators, who haven’t made the playoffs since 2017, it’s encouraging to have their young players around winners like Crosby, MacKinnon and Marchand. The Senators have a real opportunity to make some noise this season, and those two have been key contributors to the team’s success, despite Pinto currently being out of the lineup due to injury. 

Injuries have plagued the Senators for the past few seasons with guys like Josh Norris, Tim Stutzle, and Pinto who have missed some time. Ross Levitan, the host of the Locked On Senators Podcast, provided a very interesting stat that in the team’s last 264 games, they have only played 47 games with Norris, Pinto and Stutzle in the lineup together. In that span, the Senators are 29-15-3. That goes to show you how important these three are when fully healthy.

“We’ve had a lot of years where certain guys have been out, so it’s nice having pretty much a full lineup right now — especially when Shane and [David] Perron get back. We have a great group — one of the best groups I’ve seen.”