Ottawa Senators Centre Shane Pinto Not a Sure Bet To Play Friday Night In Vegas

Pinto missed practice again on Thursday, and with no morning skate on Friday, the team says he'll be a game time decision.

Ottawa Senators centre Shane Pinto hasn't missed a game yet, but after his absence from another practice on Thursday, there's obviously some kind of nagging health issue that's bothering him. Head coach Travis Green isn't even sure if Pinto will play on Friday night, playing his usual cat-and-mouse game with the media when it comes to reporting player injuries.

"He'll be a game time decision tomorrow," Green told TSN 1200's Gord Wilson. "So we'll see."

There's no word on what Pinto's issue is, but he did take hard slap shots off the skate while shot blocking in the past two games. And it was clear by Pinto's reaction that both of them stung.

The first was a shot from defenceman Erik Cernak in the Tampa Bay game Saturday afternoon.

The next was on Tuesday night in Utah when Pinto stopped a slap shot from defenceman Ian Cole.

Or Pinto's issue might have nothing to do with those two plays. But nature abhors a vacuum, so in the absence of information on injuries, always expect speculation to fill the void.

Pinto has three points in six games so far this season. In case he is ruled out at game time, the Sens have their plan B ready, recalling Cole Reinhardt again on Friday morning. This week, Reinhardt has already been (on paper) recalled, sent down, and now recalled again.

Ridly Greig, who just got back from a three-game absence of his own on Tuesday, would shift over to take Pinto's spot on the third line, if needed.

Pinto signed a two-year deal over the summer worth $7.5 million ($2.5 million in 2024-25 and $5 million in 2025-26). He famously missed the first half of last season for violating the NHL's gambling policies, but showed very little rust after that, putting up 27 points in the team's final 41 games.

With last season's injuries to Josh Norris and Tim Stutzle, the Sens leaned on Pinto for more top six and power play minutes. So it will be interesting to see what his numbers and ice time look like this season.

Right now, Pinto gets slightly more ice time than Norris, both at even strength and on the penalty kill. But it's close in both cases. Norris, though, has the big edge in power play time, playing twice as much there as Pinto does. 

If the team's top three centres all play a full season for a change, it won't be easy to find enough ice time for them all. But depth like that would be a refreshing problem to have.