Shane Pinto signs 1-year contract

This is something that we all knew was going to happen eventually, but today is the day that Shane Pinto signed with the Sens. After serving his 41-game suspension for unauthorized gambling activities, he is eligible to return for Sunday's game against the Flyers. The contract is worth $775k (i.e., league minimum) for one year. CapFriendly currently has the Senators with $1.05M in cap space with Anton Forsberg on LTIR, so, for now, no moves need to be made. However, if Forsberg gets healthy, the Sens will have to clear some space to keep him on the roster. With Greig and Sanderson as the only waivers-exempt skaters on the roster, I doubt that will happen anytime soon. A second-round pick in 2019, Pinto has 21 goals and 22 assists in 99 career NHL games over three seasons.

Interestingly, Elliotte Friedman reports the two sides are working on a long-term contract:

If this is true, then the actual cost of signing Pinto will likely only be known in the coming weeks/months.

Either way, I'm a little surprised the team would want to commit given he has yet to play this season, but with a cap crunch that's likely to continue beyond this year with raises due to Jakob Chychrun in particular, they may be hoping to lock up some certainty at the 3C spot.

It will be interesting to see where he slots in. With Josh Norris out, he and Ridly Greig will be competing for the spot beside Tkachuk. When Norris comes back, the two will likely be on the third line with either Mathieu Joseph or Vladimir Tarasenko. I'm curious who out of Greig and Pinto the Sens see as the long-term 3C and which one they see as a top-nine winger.

Welcome back Pinto!