The 22-year-old centre remains a restricted free agent and the Senators have a lot to evaluate and consider.

On the morning of the first day of NHL free agency, the Ottawa Senators easily re-signed RFA defencemen Erik Brannstrom and Jacob Bernard-Docker. At the time, it wasn't unreasonable to think that centre Shane Pinto, a more important Senator RFA, would be re-signed shortly thereafter.

Now, six weeks later, contract talks with Pinto have become a little more complicated than anyone might have expected.

For one, the Senators' financial picture has changed dramatically since July 1st. After signing goalie Joonas Korpisalo, wingers Vladimir Tarsenko and Zack MacEwen, and re-signing Travis Hamonic, Senators GM Pierre Dorion – like a kid at a candy store – has spent most his allowance, including his savings (from the Alex DeBrincat trade).

With a shrug and pant pockets turned inside out, Dorion doesn't have enough salary cap room right now to sign Pinto. He has less than a million dollars to work with and that's probably not going to cut it. So now, to make things work, he has to get creative and dump some dough. 

The question is, how much? And that's just one of many questions in this story. Even if salary caps and dumps weren't an issue, there's still so much to ponder. 

Pinto has only played 99 career games so he's a long way from reaching his full potential in the league, whatever that may be. As Dorion considers money and term, and evaluates what he has in Pinto, he has to be wondering about everything.

What is Pinto's NHL worth right now? What's Pinto's worth, specifically to the Senators right now? And what will his worth to the Senators be three years from now, after names like Tarasenko, Dominik Kubalik and maybe Claude Giroux aren't here anymore? 

What if Josh Norris isn't able to stay healthy? Is Pinto capable of being a top two centre in the league? If it came down it, would Ridly Greig – now seen as the top prospect in the organization – be ready to replace Pinto and pick up the phone on line three?

On the flip side, what does Pinto want right now for money and term? Is he looking for security in Ottawa? Or does he want to bridge it out so he can leave at the earliest opportunity like Alex DeBrincat? Does he feel like his potential here is blocked by Tim Stutzle and Josh Norris for the next seven years? To get into the top six, is he willing to move to the wing? Is he prepared to dig in and take this apparent stalemate into the season?

Obviously, there's still plenty of time before training camp. The Senators will figure out the cap, sacrifice someone off the roster, and get something done with Pinto. It probably won't make everyone totally happy, but it'll be something everyone can live with.

But now that we've fully stirred up the whole Pinto contractual jambalaya, it's easy to see why the process is taking a little longer than Brannstrom and Bernard-Docker's rubber-stamped, drive-thru deals.