Shane Pinto looking to prove his worth to Senators front office ahead of return

For the first half of this NHL season, Shane Pinto has been hanging out in hockey limbo. 

He could skate. Practice his trade. Recently, he was allowed to rejoin his Ottawa Senators team for regular practices. 

But it won’t be until Sunday afternoon in Philadelphia that Pinto can suit up with his teammates in a real game, and get past his 41-game suspension for violating the NHL’s gambling policy. 

On Friday, Pinto, 23, punched his ticket to a return to action by signing a one-year contract for $775,000 USD. That money is prorated, meaning Pinto will earn roughly half that total, or less than $400,000 for the balance of the season. 

Needless to say, Pinto won’t be thinking about dollars and cents when he plays his first game of 2023-24, three months after his expected start. The native of Franklin Square, New York will have lots of support.

“I was actually talking to my parents yesterday – a lot of my family and friends are coming – it’s like my first NHL game again,” Pinto said. “Definitely exciting. Not going to look too much into it, I just want to go out and play.”

How much could Pinto have made if him and the Senators, then run by general manager Pierre Dorion, had agreed on a contract last summer for two years or more? How much could he have made if there was no gambling suspension?

Hard to say, but Pinto knows he left a lot of money on the table due to circumstances – some of them under his control. 

Instead, Pinto will get a chance in the second half of the season to show his worth to new GM Steve Staios and the Senators as far as a future deal. 

“Listen, when you look at that number (on his new deal), it’s a lot of money either way,” said Pinto, in yet another display of the young man’s maturity. 

“My time will come, I’m not too worried about that,” Pinto added. “I just want to get going, get playing and help this team win.”

While there was consideration for a longer deal, Pinto says his focus was to return to action with a simple contract in place. 

“We’ll worry about the other stuff if it comes about,” he said. “For now I’m just going to focus on hockey and do what I can do.”

With centre Josh Norris set to return – likely this weekend –  from his upper body injury, the Senators' new management team might finally get to see Ottawa’s vaunted depth at the centre ice position. 

With a top four of Tim Stützle, Norris, Pinto and Ridly Greig, the Senators have some promise. And such a revelation has Greig been as a top two centre with Norris and Pinto missing, don’t bank on Greig slipping all the way back to a third or fourth line. He’s been too good. 

Interim head coach Jacques Martin also has the option of moving one of these centres to the wing, which he is open to considering. 

“When you miss half a season, the difficulty sometimes is the timing,” Martin said. “He’ll probably take some time to adapt, but he’ll be a good addition to our team.”

With Norris and Pinto back in the mix, Martin says he will juggle some lines to figure out what works. 

“We’ll try to find some line combinations that are best for the team,” Martin said. “Whether it’s at centre or other positions, we’re still juggling our lines. It’s a constant evaluation from game to game, to see if we can develop some chemistry.”

In his earlier incarnation with the Senators, Martin was known for favouring two forwards together as a pair, while making the third forward more transient, on a given line.  For example, Marian Hossa and Radek Bonk were a fixture back in the day. He says he may do that again, with his newfound riches at the centre position.”

On the sidelines, Pinto has certainly noticed Greig’s impressive play.

“The emergence of Ridder (Greig) has been such a good surprise for us,” Pinto said. “It just shows that we do have the players here. I think we can really turn this around.

“You can’t have too much (centre) depth in this league. I just look at it, there hasn’t been a lot of time when all four of us have been in the lineup together. So, I’m excited for it.”

Indeed, Norris missed most of last season with a shoulder injury while Pinto was establishing himself as a 20-goal scorer. The year before, 2021-22, Pinto was limited to five games because of a shoulder issue. 

While his body is fresh and poised for action, Pinto knows he will have to shake some rust off his play in the first couple of games.  

“It’s going to take me a little bit to get my grounding and touches and details back – I don’t think it will take too long,” Pinto said. “Definitely the practices helped a bit, but there’s nothing like a game.”