With Shane Pinto's return, the Senators have four excellent young centres, who are all good enough to play in the top six. So what happens now?
The Ottawa Senators have been dealt a plethora of problems, controversies and conundrums over this 2023-24 season. With all the firing, hiring and losing that has taken place, the Shane Pinto saga has mostly been on the back burner. But now Pinto has officially returned to the lineup, creating a new conundrum.
The Senators have too many centres.
With Pinto back in the mix, and Josh Norris healthy again, the Senators finally have their four young centres – Pinto, Norris, Tim Stutzle, and Ridly Greig all in the lineup at the same time.
The club will eventually have to decide if all four will remain at centre, or if one of them moves to the wing. Stutzle will be this team’s first-line centre for years to come, meaning the second and third-line centre spots are open for Norris, Greig and Pinto, who are all too good to be fourth line centres.
The problem for the Senators is they've already invested over 16 million dollars a season combined in Norris and Stutzle, who are signed for the next six and seven seasons respectively. But Pinto needs a new deal for next season and Ridly Greig will need one the year after that.
What do the Senators do with this conundrum?
For the rest of this season, the Senators are fine. But moving forward in a salary cap NHL, it’s hard to keep so many talented young centres together unless someone moves to the wing.
Which centre will that be? Or will they be forced to trade someone? If so, who?
That's what the rest of the season is for – to allow head coach Jacques Martin to play around with the lineup to see how the foursome fits in the same lineup. The rest of the dominoes up front should fall into place after that.
And on Sunday, in the first game with everyone back, Martin's first experiment was to try Greig on the wing.
“We'll start that way and see how it goes," Martin said. ”I think Norris can play on the wing as well. So, we've got some flexibility there.”
In that first game, the Senators' improved depth was evident as each of the four lines scored against the Flyers in, arguably, the team’s most complete performance of the season.
Pinto centered the third line between Mathieu Joseph and Vladimir Tarasenko, and proved his worth with a gritty assist (pun intended). Even Greig, who was pushed to the wing, was very effective alongside Stutzle.
Once everything plays out this season, the Senators could try to sign both Pinto and Greig to long-term contracts and pay for it by shipping out an existing contract. They could try to trade someone to get a physical defenceman or draft capital in return. The Senators could investigate a Norris trade, but that would be difficult with his injury history and his long-term contract. And it should be noted that Norris had one of his best games of the season on Sunday.
Remember also, both Mark Kastelic and Rourke Chartier are on the roster, both workaday fourth line centres. Does GM Steve Staios keep them or try to upgrade?
So far, there are very few clear answers. But if Sunday’s performance from their quartet of Stutzle, Norris, Pinto and Greig is any indication, it’s a nice problem to have.