Shane Pinto is playing himself out of trade talks and into a massive contract extension with the Ottawa Senators, following his strong start to the 2025-26 season. His agent, Lewis Gross, would love to cash in now with the hot start fresh, and it looks like he will get his wish later this week, according to the Ottawa Citizen's Bruce Garrioch.
“We've been continuing good dialogue,” General Manager Steve Staios told Garrioch. “We're going to meet again this week, and we're hoping to come with a positive outcome.”
Staios reportedly tabled an eight-year, $52 million extension at the end of October, which Pinto and his agent declined to accept. While there's a chance they believe Pinto is worth more to the organization than that number would suggest, it is also rumored that Pinto isn't looking to commit to a full eight years with the organization.
This trend is likely to continue in contract negotiations. The salary cap continues to reach unprecedented levels in the NHL, and it has also exceeded all projections. At this point in the game, it'd be malpractice for a player to lock himself into a long-term deal when the average salary could skyrocket over the course of the agreement.
It's been a long road back for Pinto after gambling allegations cost him half of the 2023-24 season. In the first sports gambling suspension for the NHL, the league found the Senators' forward guilty of allowing a “proxy” to make bets on his account in New York while he was in the middle of the season. While Shane Pinto wasn't betting on NHL games, it is against the rules to let other people use your account.
Those issues are well behind the 24-year-old, and he is now on pace for a career year with 14 points in his first 16 games.
