Last year was filled with distraction for the Ottawa Senators, but Shane Pinto is past it all and excited about the new season ahead.
Ottawa Senators center Shane Pinto must feel 100 pounds lighter this fall.
This time last year, Pinto was a restricted free agent (RFA) who missed all of training camp while waiting on a new contract and was then hit with a 41-game suspension. Combine that with the distractions every Senators player faced—new incoming ownership, a new GM, and a new coach—and it was an unsettling season filled with challenges.
Now, all of that is behind him.
Pinto has a big new contract and just enjoyed a full training camp, capped off by a hat trick in the Senators' preseason finale. He’s focused and fired up about the season ahead and the team’s chances.
"I have a good feeling about it,' Pinto said. "Obviously, we're gonna have to have a good start, but in my opinion, I think we do have enough to be a playoff team and create some noise there. But it's up to us. There are no excuses anymore. Obviously, we have everyone in the lineup, and everyone's healthy. And we've got Linus Ullmark now, which is a huge addition, and there's no excuses now. I think we have to make playoffs, and hopefully we can do that."
It's refreshing to hear players openly discuss strong ambitions for the team and the season ahead. Sens fans are probably weary of bland declarations like wanting to "play meaningful games at the end of the year," as though there's some level of accomplishment attached to that.
Besides, if the Senators miss the playoffs for an eighth straight year, fans will be 100 percent cranky, no matter how strongly or weakly players and staff present their seasonal expectations.
Pinto will play a crucial role in the club's success, anchoring the most talented third line we've seen in Ottawa in years. Flanked by David Perron and Michael Amadio, that line could challenge the supposed second line (Greig-Norris-Batherson) in production and ice time. Or maybe Pinto moves up on the depth chart.
Last season, with the weight of the world on him and having to jump into games where everyone was already in mid-season form, Pinto still performed admirably, posting 27 points in 41 games. That’s a tidy 54-point pace, which was better than Norris's pace last season.
Now that so many distractions have been removed, what will Shane Pinto do for an encore in 2024-25?