COMMITMENT MADE: Ottawa Senators’ Center Signs Fresh Contract

You would have probably expected Shane Pinto to indulge in a celebratory dinner a few hours after signing his new contract on Tuesday evening.

Instead, the centreman had one of the staple meals that he learned to cook himself  during the 2022-23 NHL season. Pinto prepared a simple dish of grilled chicken, rice and kale — hardly a dinner commensurate with his new two-year, $7.5 million contract.

And on Wednesday,  Pinto also didn’t break from his routine to bask in the accomplishment. His schedule was jammed with a morning treatment, and a workout, followed by an afternoon pilates session and a skate just after 4 p.m.

“Hey, you’ve got to keep working,” Pinto chuckled during a video call with The Athletic on Wednesday evening. “But I’ll make sure I celebrate on the Fourth of July.” Pinto’s trademark smile was flashed on several occasions during the call — a far cry from the expression he was wearing a few days ago.

Negotiations between his agent Lewis Gross and Ottawa Senators general manager Steve Staios appeared to reach a stalemate. Rumours of potential offer sheets and trade requests started to crop up — neither of which carried much validity — but they certainly painted the picture of a stalled negotiation. And that brought forward an all-too-familiar feeling for Pinto, who went through a very similar fruitless exercise to get a deal last summer, only to have those negotiations derailed by a 41-game suspension.

“Even last week, I thought to myself, ‘This is going to be part two. It’s going to be the same thing as last summer,’” Pinto said. “I thought we would get to September, we’d open training camp and it would just be the same thing.”

But on Tuesday, shortly after Staios dumped two-year, $2.95 million contract to St. Louis, the Ottawa general manager phoned Gross with a new offer.

As Pinto explained: “All of a sudden it just kind of changed. It all happened with just one phone call. Lewis said to me, ‘I think this is going to be the last phone call for a while.’” The Senators were willing to bump the AAV up to $3.75 million on a two-year deal, which was enough to convince Pinto to sign without any hesitation.

“It was such a sigh of relief,” said Pinto. “I said, ‘F— yeah. Let’s do it.” Pinto immediately jumped on a phone call to chat with Staios. In that conversation, there was not a single trace of animosity or lingering bitterness over a contract negotiation that likely went on a bit longer than each party desired.

“We had a great chat. Both Steve and I are super pumped we got this done early. We’re so excited to get this going,” said Pinto. “There’s no ill will against each other at all. Like not at all.”