Goals aren't everything though, Mittelstadt might not score as much as Pinto's one career high season but he's better than Pinto in every other category. Dude's a solid second line centre that can playmake and is good in his own end. These types of guys aren't rare, but they aren't the most common.
He’s in the bottom third of top nine centres in the league when it comes to scoring goals.
Playmaking is great but he’s not a threat to put the puck in the net.
As I said - it’s more about what they ended up with given the 4th overall pick that they started with.
Buffalo clearly saw him as expendable with their depth up front.
We can quibble about top six or middle six but in the grand scheme of things we are both saying he isn’t good enough to be a #1 and probably too good to be a #3 unless you are one of those teams that boasts two #1 calibre centres.
Do I think Norris and/or Pinto can eclipse his production? Certainly. I think they are all in the same tier.