The Ottawa Senators and Shane Pinto need to determine the right price.
The Senators centre continued to add to his October point total with an assist on Lars Eller’s shorthanded effort in a 4-3 overtime victory over the Calgary Flames on Thursday at the Canadian Tire Centre.
As the Senators prepare to face the Montreal Canadiens on Saturday at the Bell Centre, Pinto has posted eight goals, three assists and 11 points in the club’s first 12 games of the season.
A restricted free agent on July 1 with the right to file for arbitration, Pinto’s hot start has left everybody wondering what kind of raise he’s going to get after making $3.75 million US this season in the final year of an extension he signed in July 2024.
Steve Staios, the club’s president of hockey operations and general manager, doesn’t discuss negotiations publicly, but has stated that he’d like to get the 24-year-old Pinto signed to a long-term deal.
Those talks are continuing with the hope that there will be a resolution soon, and Pinto is playing a key role under coach Travis Green with an average of 19 minutes per game in ice time.
Trying to bridge the gap after talks with Pinto’s New York-based agent, Lewis Gross, went nowhere in the summer and were shelved before training camp in September, league sources told Postmedia that the Senators offered an eight-year, $52-million deal in mid-October.
That deal would carry an average annual value of $6.5 million, which is a far cry from the eight-year offer the club made in the summer that carried a $5 million AAV in the summer. The new offer wasn’t enough to get it done, but it does serve notice to Pinto that the club wants him.
The talk in league circles is that Pinto’s camp feels his contract should be somewhere between the $7.1 million that Dylan Cozens is making on a deal he signed with the Buffalo Sabres before being traded to Ottawa and the $8.35 million that Tim Stutzle is pulling in.
We’re also told that Pinto has to determine if he wants to stay in Ottawa for the next eight seasons or does he wants a shorter term to see how the franchise progresses. Staios wants to solidify the middle of the ice with Tim Stutzle signed through 2031 and Dylan Cozens on board until 2030.
Captain Brady Tkachuk’s contract will be up at the end of the 2027-28 campaign, which raises the question of whether the Senators can keep this group together. Tkachuk will be a free agent in the same class as Toronto captain Auston Matthews and Edmonton captain Connor McDavid.
Some have suggested to Postmedia that a deal in the range of three to six years might make more sense for Pinto. A three-year contract would allow him to see where the franchise is headed and, by then, everybody will know whether Tkachuk is signed to another extension.
It should be noted that Gross is considered one of the most difficult negotiators in the league and he’ll use every avenue possible to squeeze the Senators for what’s best for Pinto — but that doesn’t mean Staios doesn’t have some leverage here as well.
Pinto is two years away from unrestricted free agency and, with the cap going up, we’re seeing salaries rise. That means there is more money in the pool for players and, as a result, general managers are trying to keep their key pieces from going to market anytime in the near future.
This week alone, forward Logan Cooley signed an eight-year deal in Utah that carries an AAV of $10 million per season, and Martin Necas got a whopping $11.5 million AAV for eight years from Colorado. Defenceman Thomas Harley signed with Dallas for $10.59 million per year over eight seasons.
Entering play Friday, seven players were tied for the most goals in the NHL this season with nine. The eight goals Pinto has scored have him tied with Cooley, Pittsburgh’s Sidney Crosby, Edmonton’s Leon Draisaitl, Detroit’s Dylan Larkin and Jack Eichel of Vegas.
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The fact that Pinto can go to arbitration means the Senators will get him signed one way or another because the reality is an offer sheet likely wouldn’t be more than five years, and that Ottawa would match.
An experienced agent told Postmedia on Friday that the Senators can leverage the final two years before free agency to help lower the AAV on Pinto’s next contract.
Yes, he could fetch $8 million on the open market in 2028 if he continues this pace, but the Senators can still offer Pinto security, and two years is a long time to see what happens.
There is a willingness on both sides to get something done, but the Senators and Pinto are still trying to find common ground.