What Will Shane Pinto's Next Contract Look Like?

Sometime between now and their next meaningful hockey game this fall, the Ottawa Senators are going to sit down and work out a new contract for pending restricted free agent centre Shane Pinto. 

But this isn't exactly a rubber stamp situation. 

This season, after the nuisance of a 41-game NHL suspension for violating the league's gambling rules, Pinto was super agreeable in re-signing with the Sens, agreeing to a one-year deal for less than a million dollars, way below his market value. 

But the Senators are unlikely to get the same consideration and discount in Pinto's next contract. 

With that in mind, it's hard to predict what the next deal might look like, simply because Pinto has only played 121 NHL games and there are so many questions. 

Is Pinto truly a player who will hover near a point a game throughout his career? He has so far this season, but that's only a 22-game sample size. For his career, he's barely a point-every-other-game player.

What exactly is his long-term potential as an NHL player? Is he likely to be Ottawa's third-line centre? Or with the uncertain health status of Josh Norris, are the Senators counting on him for more than that? 

Does Pinto worry about being hopelessly blocked for even strength ice-time by the big juicy centre-ice minutes sucked up by Norris and Tim Stutzle? Both of those players might be in his way for the next six or seven years. 

Will he want some kind of bridge deal or does he want long-term security? And what kind of money is he after?

As an RFA, Pinto is still under club control, so the Sens can low ball and grind him all the way to unrestricted free agency if they want. But that guarantees the 23-year-old will be gone in UFA the second he's eligible. 

There will have to be some give and take from both sides. Pinto probably won't go to the maximum eight years unless the money is great. And despite the previous regime's best laid plans, the Senators can't go 8 x 8 with every young guy on the team.

The new management team in Ottawa is going to be a little more budget conscious, not in the name of being cheap, but because they'd rather not have to play their season opener this fall with one player short again as they did this season. 

The Senators will probably angle toward a "show me" deal with Pinto before they're willing to sign off on a big gaudy deal. And we're thinking Pinto won't mind betting on himself (sorry) to make even more money over the long haul by going shorter term now.

We wouldn't be shocked to see the two sides hammer out a 2-3 year deal at $4-5 million a season.