Shortly after he was selected in the 2017 NHL Draft, Ottawa Senators winger Drake Batherson got a chance to train in the summertime with other NHL players who hail from the East Coast. It just so happened his training mates were some of the game’s very best players, and, as it turned out, it’s become an annual thing in Bedford, Nova Scotia.
Batherson wasn’t even an NHL player yet, and he was out skating with superstars like Sidney Crosby, Nathan MacKinnon, and Brad Marchand. Crosby and Marchand had Stanley Cup rings; by 2022, MacKinnon did too. It’s been a golden opportunity to befriend and learn from those players.
It would be an overreach to suggest the student has become the master, but there’s no doubt that, as they’ve all aged over the years, Batherson has closed the gap between rookie and veteran, and may end up with bragging rights on most of them when they reconvene next summer.
Crosby remains excellent, with 30 points in 31 games. But for the first time, he’s getting a run for his money from Batherson, who has 32 points in 30 games. As they often do in the summer, the two men will go head to head tonight. Batherson’s Senators will host Crosby’s Pittsburgh Penguins.
Adding a little spice to the matchup is the fact that the two clubs are tied in the Eastern standings, two points out of a playoff spot.
Marchand is well back of his fellow East Coasters with 23 points right now, but Mackinnon leaves them all in the dust, leading the entire NHL with 47 points.
So Batherson is now becoming one of the veterans of the summer skate and his teammate, Shane Pinto, is now the new guy striving to catch up with them all. Pinto came out for the skate for the first time this past summer, and Batherson says he thinks it’ll now be an annual thing for him as well.
“It was awesome,” Batherson said. I’ve said this before but (Pinto) didn’t start playing until he was 10 years old. And the only reason he started playing was because of Sid. So him coming to town and getting to train and skate with Sid every day was awesome.”
Saturday will be the Senators’ last home game of 2024, so they’re billing it as their Christmas game as the summer friends reunite. But with two critical points at stake, don’t expect any goodwill toward men.
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