The Senators have their core locked up after Shane Pinto extension

The Ottawa Senators have taken another step to secure their young, talented nucleus, as they signed center Shane Pinto on Wednesday to a four-year, $30 million contract. Pinto has had struggles with injuries in the past, but he’s been healthy this season and is showing his worth. The Senators’ second-round pick from 2019 has put up eight goals and six assists for 14 points in 17 games so far.

Pinto, 25, joins the likes of Tim Stutzle, Brady Tkachuk, Dylan Cozens, Jake Sanderson and Thomas Chabot as under-30 players with multiple years of term left on their deals in Ottawa. The Senators’ present and future is looking bright, and the decision to lock up Pinto further shows that Ottawa has confidence in the makeup of their team.

On Thursday’s episode of Daily Faceoff LIVE, Tyler Yaremchuk and former NHL goaltender Carter Hutton discussed Pinto’s freshly signed deal, and what it signals for the future of the Senators.

Tyler Yaremchuk: Not a bad birthday present for Shane Pinto, who turns 25 today. You get $30 million guaranteed on your birthday. That’s good living.

Carter Hutton: Yeah, you know, honestly, this is a good deal. It’s almost like that new-age bridge deal for him, taking a little less term probably than he could’ve gotten at four years, $30 million. Now he’s set himself up well, if he plays well in the next four years on that deal, because when he becomes a UFA at 29, there’s a lot of money to be made out there with the way that the cap is transitioning. He came out of the shoot hot, he had seven goals in his first six games. He’s kind of cooled off in that sense, but this is a good one. A guy that’s had some injuries, he’s missed some time, obviously the suspension on top of that. But he was a big contributor for that Ottawa Senators team last year for that playoff run. This is a good signing. We were talking earlier about his and Dylan Cozens’ deals coming up at the same time. Those are two of your centermen. You can kind of see, forecasting into the future, I think maybe a strategic move in Ottawa. Maybe we’ll see who is getting the job done and maybe one of those pieces becomes a trade piece before their contract expires.

You can watch the full segment and the rest of the episode here…