The Ottawa Senators have signed center Shane Pinto to a four-year, $30M contract extension. The deal will run through the 2029-30 season. The deal will carry a yearly cap hit of $7.5M and carry through two years of Pinto’s unrestricted free agent eligibility. That yearly salary is a full $1M over the number believed to have been offered to Pinto on an eight-year extension before the start of the season. There was reason to believe Pinto wasn’t satisfied with that previous offer per Ottawa Citizen’s Bruce Garrioch. Pinto’s contract will also mark a new baseline for other young, emerging centers across the league. He has been a true force for the Senators this season, stepping up as a much-needed second-line center and posting 14 points in 17 games, the third-most on the team. The scoring is a major surge forward from the 37 points he scored in 70 games last season, but it doesn’t seem unsustainable. Pinto has recorded a career-high 17.4 shooting percentage this year – 0.9 percent more than he managed last yea
