The Ottawa Senators have signed restricted free-agent forward Drake Batherson to a six-year deal with an average annual value of $4.975 million, the team announced Friday.

Batherson played his first full NHL season in 2020-21, putting up 34 points in 56 games, and his 17 goals were tied for the second-most on Ottawa's roster.

The 23-year-old right-winger suited up for the Sens during the 2018-2019 and 2019-2020 campaigns as well, but he spent most of his time with the AHL's Belleville Senators.

"Drake represents an integral component of our future at forward," general manager Pierre Dorion said. "Dating to his first pro season, he has steadily progressed to the point where he is now widely recognized as a bonafide top-line NHL winger."

While attending the BioSteel fitness camp earlier this week, Batherson seemed confident a deal would get done before training camp.

"I'm looking forward to getting back to Ottawa, seeing all the guys, and just getting it going. It's going to be exciting for sure," he said Monday, according to the Ottawa Sun's Bruce Garrioch.

The Senators selected Batherson in the fourth round of the 2017 draft, and he has 53 career points in 99 NHL games.

Ottawa has a little bit more work to do on the restricted free-agent front, with Brady Tkachuk and Logan Brown still on the books.

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New Boston Bruins forward Nick Foligno will think about his short-lived stint with the Toronto Maple Leafs for a long time.

"My biggest disappointment was we didn't get the job done, and I unfortunately got hurt. That'll sit with me. Regardless of what Leafs fans think of me, I'm way harder on myself," Foligno said on Sportsnet 590 The FAN's "Good Show" with JD Bunkis.

"The fact that I couldn't perform to the abilities that I felt like I was early on killed me inside. It's something I'll regret forever."

The Leafs acquired Foligno just before the trade deadline in a three-way deal with the San Jose Sharks and Columbus Blue Jackets. Toronto had to cough up a 2021 first-round pick and a 2022 fourth-round selection to obtain the veteran's services.

Foligno played seven regular-season games with the Leafs leading up to the postseason and missed some time due to an upper-body injury. The 33-year-old struggled to stay healthy and sat out three of the team's playoff games against the Montreal Canadiens.

"I was unfortunately dealing with a really bad back injury that was debilitating. There was nerve pain, it shut down my whole right leg," he said. "Anything else you can play through a lot of the time. This, I couldn't. I tried."

Foligno, who's claimed he likes playing a physical game and isn't afraid of some "hard minutes," found himself in a tricky position.

"Trying not to hurt the team instead of trying to help the team, that's what it felt like. That bothered me a lot as a player," Foligno said.

Even though his time with the franchise didn't go the way he wanted, Foligno enjoyed his time in Toronto, including his Game 1 fight with Corey Perry.

"I'd do anything for those guys. The way they embraced me when I got there, I have nothing but great things to say about that team. That's why I think it stung so much … that's a group that really felt like they were ready," he reflected.

With his brief Leafs tenure behind him, Foligno is ready to get rolling as a Bruin.

"I am really thrilled at the opportunity Boston's given me to now join a team that I have a lot of respect for and obviously hated playing against all these years. Looking forward to playing with them," Foligno said.

The left-winger signed a two-year, $7.6 million contract with Boston as an unrestricted free agent in July.

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The OHL suspended controversial Montreal Canadiens draft pick Logan Mailloux indefinitely after he violated "the expectation of the appropriate conduct of an OHL player," commissioner David Branch announced Thursday.

Mailloux was charged and fined in Sweden in November 2020 for invasion of privacy and defamation after taking a photo of a woman without consent during a sexual encounter and distributing it. The OHL cites the incident as the reason for the suspension.

The London Knights player will have the opportunity to apply for reinstatement on or after Jan. 1, 2022. Whether or not Mailloux is reinstated will depend on his conduct since his return to Canada, as well as any treatment and education he receives.

Montreal selected Mailloux with the 31st pick in this year's draft. Three days prior, Mailloux put out a statement asking teams not to draft him because he hadn't done enough to "earn that privilege."

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The Philadelphia Flyers have signed forward Joel Farabee to a six-year extension with an annual cap hit of $5 million, the team announced Thursday.

Farabee had one more year left on his entry-level contract and was set to become a restricted free agent at the end of the 2021-22 campaign.

The 21-year-old was a bright light for the Flyers in a less-than-impressive 2020-21 season, leading Philadelphia in scoring with 20 goals.

"I think I came off a pretty good year last year so definitely wanted to get things rolling, and I'm glad both sides came to an agreement," Farabee said, according to NHL.com's Adam Kimelman. "I'm really excited to be in Philly for the next seven years after my last year on my ELC."

The left-winger saw a major uptick in production during his sophomore campaign. After mustering eight goals and 21 points in 52 games as a rookie in 2019-20, he responded with a total of 38 points in 55 contests this past season.

Farabee was rewarded for his efforts with the 2020-21 Pelle Lindbergh Memorial Trophy as the Flyers' most improved player.

After being drafted 14th overall in 2018, Farabee made his NHL debut on Oct. 21, 2019, becoming the first player born in the 2000s to appear in a game for Philly.

Farabee is now under contract with the Flyers through the 2027-28 season.

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With three Stanley Cup championships, six All-Star appearances, and 863 NHL games under his belt (plus a whopping 142 playoff contests), Pittsburgh Penguins defenseman Kris Letang has pretty much seen and done it all.

Well, not quite. There's still one more thing the 34-year-old covets.

"Four," Letang said, according to Mike DeFabo of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, referring to the Stanley Cup.

"It doesn't matter how many years I'm going to keep doing this," he added. "I just want to do it for one reason - that's to win every year."

Entering the final year of an eight-year deal that carries an average annual value of $7.25 million, Letang's feeling confident in a 2021-22 Pittsburgh team that held on to much of its core.

"I feel comfortable saying we have what we need to be successful, whether on the coaching staff or player-wise," Letang said. "We have the group to do it."

The right-handed shot has spent his NHL career with "brothers" Evgeni Malkin and Sidney Crosby and "of course" he'd certainly like to keep it that way.

"You hear about those guys who decide to go with another team trying to look for another Cup or bigger salaries," Letang said. "The thing we built in Pittsburgh with Sid and Geno, I think it's special. Obviously, there's always an end to an era. I cannot predict when it's going to be done."

For now, things are looking good for the Penguins; Pittsburgh has made the playoffs in 15 straight seasons and finished at the top of the realigned East Division in 2020-21. However, the squad hasn't advanced past the second round of the postseason since winning the Cup in 2016-17.

“At the end of the day, guys who have been together for 15-20 years - whatever it ends up being - is going to be on the small scale of the longevity of a franchise. You have to think about all the other years and you want to keep winning," Letang said.

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The Buffalo Sabres re-signed restricted free-agent forward Casey Mittelstadt to a three-year deal with an average annual value of $2.5 million, the team announced Thursday.

Mittelstadt is coming off the most productive season of his young career. After spending the beginning of the 2020-21 campaign on the taxi squad, he thrived under new head coach Don Granato, who replaced the fired Ralph Krueger in March. Mittelstadt tallied 17 points in the final 22 games after returning to the center position and seeing matchups against the opponent's top lines.

"I think a lot of guys, including myself, owe (Granato) quite a bit," Mittelstadt said. "He challenged me when he took over and pushed me to become a better player. I think it's that simple. A lot of the strides I made are partly because of him pushing me or had a lot to do with him pushing me."

The Sabres selected Mittelstadt eighth overall in the 2017 draft. The 22-year-old has 61 points in 155 career games.

Buffalo still has two other restricted free agents to deal with in defensemen Rasmus Dahlin and Henri Jokiharju.

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Words can't quite describe just how proud Winnipeg Jets winger Nikolaj Ehlers was to help his home nation of Denmark qualify for its first-ever Olympics.

"It was emotional. It was one of the best feelings I've ever had," Ehlers said.

Ehlers led the way for Denmark with nine points across three qualifying games. He topped it off with a breakaway snipe with just over three minutes left in a contest against Norway.

The goal helped lift his team to a 2-0 victory and a major historical achievement. Denmark joined the International Ice Hockey Federation in 1946 and, after 76 years, the team will get its first taste of the Olympics in Beijing.

"The growth that has happened the last six or seven years has been pretty incredible. (Denmark) made the quarterfinals at the World Championship in 2016, we had the World Championship in Denmark in 2018, and at this year's World Championship, we beat Sweden for the first time ever. Now we're going to the Olympics," Ehlers said.

"What we're trying to do here with this team is make hockey bigger in Denmark."

Ehlers was pleased with his Danish teammates' dedication over the summer. The group met for four three-day camps as a way to train and grow as a unit.

"I'm really proud of what we've been able to do, but I'm even more proud of the commitment from the guys we had in the locker room," the 25-year-old said. "They become - as in Winnipeg - brothers to you pretty quick."

A decision on whether NHLers will be able to compete in the 2022 Olympics is reportedly looming, but at least the Danes booked their seat at the table with Ehlers' help.

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The Chicago Blackhawks signed defenseman Connor Murphy to a four-year extension with an annual cap hit of $4.4 million, the team announced Tuesday.

Murphy was set to become an unrestricted free agent after the 2021-22 campaign as he enters the final season of a six-year deal that carries an average annual value of $3.85 million.

Chicago acquired Murphy in a trade with the Arizona Coyotes during the 2017 draft. In four seasons with the Blackhawks, the 28-year-old has 61 points in 236 games.

"When we acquired Connor in the summer of 2017, we had visions of him growing as both a player and leader in our organization for many years," Blackhawks general manager Stan Bowman said. "He has transformed into a defenseman capable of matching up with the opponent's best players and someone we trust to help us preserve a lead in the final minutes."

Murphy shouldered the second-highest average ice time per game (22:09) among all Blackhawks defensemen during the 2020-21 campaign.

With this new deal under his belt, Murphy is now signed through the 2025-26 season. Chicago's longest-tenured active defenseman has cemented his place on the team's revamped blue line alongside Seth Jones and Jake McCabe.

The then-Phoenix Coyotes drafted Murphy with the 20th overall pick in 2011.

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The Nashville Predators signed restricted free-agent forward Eeli Tolvanen to a three-year contract with an average annual value of $1.45 million, the team announced Monday.

Tolvanen enjoyed a strong first full campaign with the Predators in 2020-21, registering 22 points over 40 games. He also led Nashville with six power-play goals.

The 22-year-old put up a six-game point streak in late March, which is tied for the second-longest rookie streak in franchise history.

The Predators' 30th overall pick in 2017 played in seven NHL games across the 2017-18 and 2018-19 seasons. Tolvanen spent 2019-20 with the AHL's Milwaukee Admirals, scoring 36 points over 63 contests.

He also made 25 appearances for Jokerit of the KHL before joining the Predators this past season.

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Calgary Flames irritant Matthew Tkachuk really wants to prove it this season.

"I know you make your personal and your team legacy in playoffs," the 23-year-old winger said in an interview with NHL Network. "So that's what I'm hoping to do this year is make a very long run in the playoffs and do something special with our team. Because I would love to do that with that group of guys there."

The Flames have made the playoffs three times in Tkachuk's first five NHL seasons, but each appearance has ended in a first-round exit.

Tkachuk has five points in 15 career playoff games and leads all Calgary skaters with 32 penalty minutes over the team's three most recent postseason appearances. He's averaged the fifth-most ice time (16:42) among Flames forwards across those three playoff stints.

"I consider myself to be a solid player that hasn't done a lot so far in the league yet," he said. "So hoping for a year where I can prove that this year."

The Flames struggled during the pandemic-shortened 2020-21 campaign, finishing fifth in the realigned North Division with a 26-27-3 record and missing the postseason. The team fired head coach Geoff Ward in March, bringing back Darryl Sutter for a second stint behind Calgary's bench.

Tkachuk, meanwhile, racked up 43 points in 56 games, a 63-point pace over 82 contests. He's surpassed that clip twice in his career, notching 77 points in 80 games in 2018-19 and 61 points in 69 games in 2019-20.

"It has nothing to do with me - it's got everything to do with team success," he said. He added: "(My teammates) are very special to me, and I enjoy working with them each and every day. It's time for us to do something this year."

If Tkachuk and the Flames are to get over the hump this season, they'll have to do so without longtime captain Mark Giordano after the Seattle Kraken selected the defenseman in the July expansion draft.

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