This Shane Pinto contract isn’t going to sign itself and as we’ve learned over the years, there’s really only one way to help the process along – write a long-winded article about the current situation that would quickly become irrelevant if he signs a new contract.
Just doing my part.
In a busy off-season, where the Senators have been aggressive in addressing areas of need and tinkered with a roster ready to take that next step, there is one fairly large-sized American elephant in the room.
Restricted free agent Shane Pinto still doesn’t have a contract and with Camp now about a month away, it’s a negotiation that has lingered far longer than anticipated. Although a closer look at Ottawa’s cap situation combined with some of the uncertainties surrounding the roster gives you a pretty good idea why this has been more complicated than expected.
While he’s still early in his NHL career, Shane Pinto already has 99 games of NHL experience under his belt. After appearing in 12 and then 5 games over his first two seasons in the bigs, Pinto put in a full 82 games last year and really solidified himself as an everyday NHLer.
He’s still pretty clearly locked in behind both Tim Stutzle and Josh Norris on the team’s depth chart at centre ice, he’s a solid number three and a key cog in what has suddenly become an area of strength for the Senators.
Pinto has a lethal shot that makes him a threat to score from all over the ice and combines that with a defensive awareness that is well beyond his years. Put those two things together and you get the type of player that you can rely on in all situations. Five on five, power play and penalty kill. Up or down a goal late in the game. He does a little bit of everything. He has a tendency to get lost in the shuffle on a team that’s loaded up front but he’s a critical piece of that third line and at 22-years old, there’s still plenty of room for growth.
Yet on a team with so many young pieces already locked into longterm deals, Pinto’s contract becomes a delicate one. While the two sides have talked about a range of options, from a long-term deal that would be a bit of a gamble now but save the Sens some money down the line to a “prove-it” style bridge deal, they have yet to come to an agreement.
Ottawa has a bit of a history when it comes to squeezing their restricted free agents to land team-friendly deals and that’s especially important this time around.
If you’ve spent any time on one of those salary cappy websites, you’ll know that things are pretty snug for the Senators right now. There are all sorts of ways to wiggle out of situations like this one but as it stands, the team has a little less than a million in cap space and that’s pretty clearly not going to get it done. That situation became even more complicated when the Senators handed Vladimir Tarasenko $5,000,000 of their remaining salary cap bucks.
There is a belief that Pierre Dorion and the Senators have at least one more move in mind before the season starts but other than that possibility, a new contract for Shane Pinto really is the last bit of unfinished business.
And so we wait.
As players start to trickle into town for a new season, Shane Pinto’s contract really is the last piece of must-do unfinished business for the Ottawa Senators.
How do you see this one playing out?
