Failing to clear the adequate cap space throughout the offseason, the Ottawa Senators are still unable to sign restricted free-agent forward Shane Pinto. Throughout the last several weeks, Mathieu Joseph and his $2.95M cap hit have popped up in the rumor mill, listed as a viable cap-clearing candidate for the Senators to afford Pinto’s new deal. Even recently, former first-round pick Erik Brannstrom has also seen his name appear in trade negotiations.
Nevertheless, without an apparent end in sight to the contract negotiations, and simply too much attention on the entire ordeal, both Darren Dreger and Bruce Garrioch of TSN are reporting that Pinto has left Ottawa for the time being and has returned home to the United States to continue his training. With only a handful of teams being able to comfortably fit in either contract of Joseph or Brannstrom at this point of the season, the unfortunate stalemate between the Senators and Pinto may continue for the next couple of weeks, if not longer.
If Ottawa is expecting to compete for a playoff spot in the Atlantic Division and the Eastern Conference, they may need to pull the trigger on a trade sooner, rather than later. In Pinto’s absence, and with Joshua Norris still working his way back from a shoulder injury, the Senators now have to deploy Rourke Chartier as one of their centermen, a 27-year-old veteran of only 20 NHL games.
Last season for the Senators, in a rather explosive breakout season for the organization, Pinto would play in all 82 games, scoring 20 goals and 15 assists. Even down the middle of the ice specifically, he did well with a 52.1% faceoff percentage, but 56.9% of those opportunities were in the team’s offensive zone. In the meantime, Pinto will continue training at home in an effort to be game-ready once there is a resolution on a new contract.
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