Ottawa Senators fans were excited to have forward Shane Pinto back to start the 2024-25 season after the forward missed 41 games due to suspension the prior year. After 24 games, though, Pinto is having about as much of an impact on the team as he did while he was suspended.
Expectations for Pinto, 24, were high coming into the season. Fans rallied behind Pinto after he was suspended 41 games by the NHL in October 2023 for mysterious allegations of sport betting that were never clarified by the league. And when he finally did suit up in the back half of the year, the young centre delivered. In 41 games played in 2023-24, Pinto scored 9 goals and 27 points (9-18-27) and maintained a positive plus minus (+9) on an otherwise poor defensive team. These stats helped earn Pinto a two-year extension with a $3.75M AAV in July, with an actual salary of $2.5M in 2024-25 and $5.0M in 2025-26. With a healthy Josh Norris in the lineup, Pinto could slot in at a favourable third line centre position, leaving fans excited to see what Pinto could accomplish in a full 82 games.
The answer so far? Not very much. Things certainly started well enough. Pinto found the back of the net in the first game of the season, scoring the team’s second goal of the first period against the Florida Panthers on October 10. He looked lively all game, tilting the ice in the favour of the Sens whenever he hopped over the boards in an impressive win against the defending Stanley Cup Champions. Over the next few games Pinto pitched in with a couple of assists, before missing eight games with an undisclosed injury. Since his return from injury on November 12, the Senators have gone 3-5-2 as the team hit its usual November/December slump. During that 10-game span, Pinto has recorded zero points. At a time when the Sens are desperate for secondary scoring, the team’s third line pivot has gone missing.
Pinto is clearly not the only Senator player who has had an underwhelming start to 2024-25. The entire bottom-six, in fact, has been a black hole offensively since the start of the year. Adam Gaudette’s twelve goals alone equal the total goals scored by Pinto, Nick Cousins, Michael Amadio, Ridley Greig, Noah Gregor, Zack MacEwen, Cole Reinhardt, Zack Ostapchuk, and David Perron combined. It is worrying to see several new acquisitions in that list. It is even more worrying to note that these ten players have a combined cap hit of over $14.4M in 2024-25, while Gaudette is consistently contributing despite only being on a $775K AAV deal. General Manager Steve Staios would surely like to see more from this group.
Ottawa's entire bottom six has struggled to produce this season. Courtesy: Hockey-reference.com
The blame for the anemic bottom-six production should not be shared equally, however. Perron has only featured in 9 games while dealing with a family issue and should be excused from most criticism. But other new faces - Amadio and Cousins in particular - have failed to add any potency to the team’s third and fourth lines. Cousins has triple the amount of penalty minutes (16) as he does points (5). Some of these penalties have led to power play goals against that have been a gut punch during games. Meanwhile Amadio, who won the Stanley Cup with Vegas in 2022, has registered a total of 3 shots in his last 5 games played.
Considering that these two have been Pinto’s primary linemates, this could explain part of his poor production. But it’s disappointing nonetheless to see a player that Senators fans expected to take a big step in 2024-25 fall totally flat out of the gate. According to MoneyPuck, Pinto’s goals per 60, assists per 60, and shooting percentage have all dropped significantly since last year. In terms of puck possession at 5-on-5, Pinto’s even strength Corsi percentage has also dropped from 57.0% to 52.1%. He is clearly influencing games at a much lesser rate, something that his abysmal stat line reflects.
No one is more aware of how much more is needed from Pinto than the player himself. In a media availability on Tuesday, Pinto was asked about a strong third period showing against the Anaheim Ducks on Sunday night. “Yeah, I’ve got to do that more consistently,” Pinto stated. He went on to say that “everyone knows that I’ve got to be better, and the team needs me to be better if we want to start winning games.”
It’s possible that Pinto’s injury, the nature of which was never disclosed, is still affecting his game. And it’s possible that this is just a regular slump that will play itself out over the course of 82 games. Fans will hope that the latter is the case and that over the course of the season Pinto’s production can pick back up again. But, if the Senators’ season is over by the time that happens, then it will be small consolation to see Pinto start lighting the lamp when the team is all but out of the playoff race.
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