NHL Rumours: Batherson Extension Price, Nikishin’s Big Ask & Next NHL Expansion – The Hockey Writers – NHL Rumors

In today’s NHL rumour rundown, we start off with Drake Batherson and the Ottawa Senators, who have begun contract negotiations, and he is set to sign a big contract. Similarly, we look at Alexander Nikishin and the Carolina Hurricanes, and his massive asking price as well.

Finally, NHL expansion is on the horizon, and we may have a timeline for when we could see the next team joining the league.

Senators Working on Batherson Extension

One piece of business general manager Steve Staios has to get done this offseason is signing Batherson to an extension. While there are plenty of reasons to believe the two sides are looking to find some common ground to stick together.

The Senators likely feel a bit of pressure to get the deal done as Batherson is their only true top-six winger outside of William Eklund, who hasn’t played for the club yet. As the team looks to continue taking steps forward, scoring is going to be a big focus, and losing Batherson wouldn’t help that case.

With the new direction of the salary cap, Batherson’s extension has been an interesting argument. While he is unarguably underpaid right now, his new extension could have a comparable number to Adrian Kempe with the Los Angeles Kings.

Postmedia’s Bruce Garrioch wrote, “A league insider told the Citizen that Batherson’s camp is likely using Adrian Kempe of the Los Angeles Kings as another comparable.” (from ‘Gap remains wide as Senators, Drake Batherson work toward new deal’, Ottawa Sun, July 28, 2026)

Garrioch continued his report by stating that with the Senators typically avoiding bonus-heavy deals, it could also be a deterrent for Batherson.

If the two sides end up looking at a Kempe-like extension, which was an eight-year deal with an annual cap hit of $10.625 million, that would likely be looked at as a fair deal for both sides.

Nikishin Looking for More Than $8 Million

Moving to restricted free agent news, the Hurricanes are still looking to sort out their situation with Nikishin. After spending several successful seasons in Russia, there was a ton of excitement regarding his potential NHL impact.

As a 24-year-old rookie, he posted 11 goals and 33 points, and of course, won the Stanley Cup.

His role in the playoffs was much smaller than in the regular season, but he did his part on the path to the championship.

When speaking with RG.org, Nikishin was asked about his current negotiations and whether $8 million was the benchmark, to which he replied, “more.”

According to AFP Analytics, a long-term deal should come in around the $7 million mark, but given the way contracts have been dealt with this offseason, seeing an increase on that isn’t much of a surprise.

Nikishin was in trade talks earlier in the offseason, and whether the Hurricanes give him a new deal or find him a new home is still to be determined.

Potential Timeline for Next NHL Expansion Revealed

It was reported in June that the NHL was looking into expansion into Texas. Both Houston and Austin are in the mix for a new team. Commissioner Gary Bettman stated that the league would do a six-month exploration phase to establish whether either location will be the next destination.

John Shannon reported via the 100% Hockey podcast that the current rumour is that the NHL will have expansion prior to the 2030-31 season.

There is talk about more expansion than just a Texas team, too. The NHL is going to give another chance to both Atlanta and Phoenix/Arizona at some point, and if they are going to be adding a team in Houston or Austin, adding Atlanta shortly after could make sense to rebalance the two NHL conferences.

The last two expansions have been two very different stories. The Vegas Golden Knights, in nine years, have seen three Stanley Cup Finals, while the Seattle Kraken suffered the consequences of Vegas’ expansion draft success, not having the same mindset from other teams, and have only made the playoffs once.

There are concerns that more teams will continue to dilute the talent pool, but the NHL is the best it has ever been. There shouldn’t be concerns about there not being enough players.