How good can Shane Pinto be?

[DylanSensFan]

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Yeah, I just noticed this as well, with regards to Time on Ice in the playoffs.
Pinto was #2, very close to being #1 and nearly 2 minutes more on average than #3 Tkachuk:

View attachment 1036671

I do think Pinto could easily be our #2 C, if they were to swing Cozens out to the wing.
Greig, in my opinion, could be a solid #3C.

When one is playing a lot of PK time, they tend to pick up a lot of minutes. Green was also lining him against the Leafs top line.

 

[Sens of Anarchy]

IIHF - USA - FIN 22.05.2025 - 2025 IIHF ICE HOCKEY WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP - Game Centre Play by play

IIHF - USA - FIN 22.05.2025 - 2025 IIHF ICE HOCKEY WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP - Game Centre Play by play

www.iihf.com

 

[aragorn]

Pinto is awesome, he is quickly becoming a very good 200' player. Hopefully, they can get him signed long term during the season as they got Greig done before he breaks out & will be worth a lot more ,

 

[JungleBeat]

Don’t think you’re winning with him on the 2nd line if you don’t have multiple stars on the team. Staple him in as the 3rd line C. Nothing more.

 

[Stutzlaaaa]

I mean he can be or 2nd line C and still be our shutdown guy and play top linr in the PK. It will just allow our 3rs to be more offensive. Plenty of team have their top guy play shutdown not a reason to plug him to 3rd line. Suzuki is the scoring and shutdown c for mtl as Kopitar is/was for LA before Danault arrival, Aho in carolina there is plenty of exemples in the league.

Pinto has the skill to be a a scoring C he just never focused on that cause he was already our best defensive forward at young age. With Stutzle emergence as good 2 way C . We would have 2 great Top 6 C who can play vs any Top line .

For sure we want him at 6x6 but I was discussing his play only. He is a better option moving foward as the 2C before Cozens.

 

[Ice-Tray]

I mean he can be or 2nd line C and still be our shutdown guy and play top linr in the PK. It will just allow our 3rs to be more offensive. Plenty of team have their top guy play shutdown not a reason to plug him to 3rd line. Suzuki is the scoring and shutdown c for mtl as Kopitar is/was for LA before Danault arrival, Aho in carolina there is plenty of exemples in the league.

Pinto has the skill to be a a scoring C he just never focused on that cause he was already our best defensive forward at young age. With Stutzle emergence as good 2 way C . We would have 2 great Top 6 C who can play vs any Top line .

For sure we want him at 6x6 but I was discussing his play only. He is a better option moving foward as the 2C before Cozens.

He’s not a better option at 2C right now than Cozens, or Norris was for that matter, but he can fill in when needed which is great. He’s actually great right where he is at the moment.

We have the luxury of having depth at centre, which is better than trying to have your best centres play shutdown roles like some of the teams you mentioned because they don’t have someone better at the job. Stutzle and Cozens can fill different roles on the team.

Pinto is not really a playmaker, and he’s not really a scoring centre either. I don’t think we know quite what he is right now, but if he can score 20 goals, shut down the oppositions top players, play 1st PK and 2nd PP occasionally, all while centreing a high quality checking line, well that’s a really important peice to have right there.

I’d prefer that Pinto keeps developing into the role he has right now with Greig and Amadio, and we let Cozens do his thing with whatever we can do with the second line. If he has untapped offensive potential, he’ll find ways to score where he is.

 

[Cosmix]

Don’t think you’re winning with him on the 2nd line if you don’t have multiple stars on the team. Staple him in as the 3rd line C. Nothing more.

At this time, yes, Pinto is a 3C. He might become a 2C but I have not seen enough offensive skills from him so far to say he will become a 2C.

With respect to Cozens, I hope he breaks out to become a 2C, so far I have not seen 2C performance from him either.

Stuzle: Definitly a 1C but he needs to improve his playmaking ability. For that he needs a shooter on his line that he has chemistry with. We definitely need to upgrade our 1RW.

Then add another RD who is a 2RD level player.

 

[bicboi64]

Pinto isn't a 2C right now but he could develop into one as soon as next year. Plenty of teams can have deep playoff runs with a 2C that isn't super flashy.

When Chicago won each of their cups, their 2Cs were Dave Bolland, Michal Handzus and an aging Brad Richards.

As long as we have a good fit of wingers and coaching, plus continued development of Pinto, he can absolutely be a 2C.

 

[JungleBeat]

Pinto isn't a 2C right now but he could develop into one as soon as next year. Plenty of teams can have deep playoff runs with a 2C that isn't super flashy.

When Chicago won each of their cups, their 2Cs were Dave Bolland, Michal Handzus and an aging Brad Richards.

As long as we have a good fit of wingers and coaching, plus continued development of Pinto, he can absolutely be a 2C.

Sharp played a bit as centre as well.

We are just missing a Kane, Towes and Keith. Shouldn’t be hard to find.

 

[bicboi64]

Sharp played a bit as centre as well.

We are just missing a Kane, Towes and Keith. Shouldn’t be hard to find.

I think Staios looks at Brady, Stu and Sandy as our trio that will lead a deep playoff run. We could use a Hossa level two way guy and a beast of an RD in Seabrook though.

 

[Golden_Jet]

Based on the strategies used by his agent for the last two negotiations, how strong of a bridge deal he got, and the rising cap, I doubt he signs early for anything other than a great deal.

Yes his agent can be hard to deal with.
But never thought he got a “strong”, bridge deal, actually thought it was a fair deal for both sides.

 

[frightenedinmatenum2]

Yes his agent can be hard to deal with.
But never thought he got a “strong”, bridge deal, actually thought it was a fair deal for both sides.

He got 3.75M x 2 after only a season and a half of hockey, with the salary stacked in a way to give him almost the highest possible QO. Which boosts the floor for his salary in his final two RFA years.

It's difficult to find a perfect comparable because it was a very unique situation. Not only because Pinto was a college prospect who burned a year of his ELC, but because of how playing half a season at league minimum factors into everything. Lafreniere got 2.325M x 2 years, but that was right off of his ELC. But Lafreniere also had 3 full seasons of hockey. Pinto had 1.5 because of burning a year of the ELC, injuries, and the gambling incident.

Pinto was a 10.2(c) the year prior. He relented and signed for league minimum after causing himself to get suspended for half the season and losing all his leverage. (Granted, Pierre Dorion mismanaged the cap and made it so that they could not sign him to even a reasonable bridge deal without moving out another player. So there were two sides to that story.)

Looking internally at our own team, I would say that Pinto got the better contract than Greig, even when you factor in the league minimum year. Assuming Pinto only gets his QO, he will make 18.275M over 5 years. Assuming the same for Greig, he will make 16.9 over 5 years. That's with Pinto completely screwing up his earning power for one season because of the gambling incident. (I understand he didn't make the full 775k that year.)

So his bridge deal was so strong, that despite having to take league minimum for a year, he will still out-earn Greig in a situation where they both sign their QOs. I think that's a fair illustration of how strong his bridge deal was.

 

[Golden_Jet]

He got 3.75M x 2 after only a season and a half of hockey, with the salary stacked in a way to give him almost the highest possible QO. Which boosts the floor for his salary in his final two RFA years.

It's difficult to find a perfect comparable because it was a very unique situation. Not only because Pinto was a college prospect who burned a year of his ELC, but because of how playing half a season at league minimum factors into everything. Lafreniere got 2.325M x 2 years, but that was right off of his ELC. But Lafreniere also had 3 full seasons of hockey. Pinto had 1.5 because of burning a year of the ELC, injuries, and the gambling incident.

Pinto was a 10.2(c) the year prior. He relented and signed for league minimum after causing himself to get suspended for half the season and losing all his leverage. (Granted, Pierre Dorion mismanaged the cap and made it so that they could not sign him to even a reasonable bridge deal without moving out another player. So there were two sides to that story.)

Looking internally at our own team, I would say that Pinto got the better contract than Greig, even when you factor in the league minimum year. Assuming Pinto only gets his QO, he will make 18.275M over 5 years. Assuming the same for Greig, he will make 16.9 over 5 years. That's with Pinto completely screwing up his earning power for one season because of the gambling incident. (I understand he didn't make the full 775k that year.)

So his bridge deal was so strong, that despite having to take league minimum for a year, he will still out-earn Greig in a situation where they both sign their QOs. I think that's a fair illustration of how strong his bridge deal was.

Disagree,
And the Pinto , Greig thing makes no sense to cherry pick if they signed for one more year.

Pinto’s QO of 5 million is only an issue if you thought he signs his next deal for less than 5.

Not too mention you can offer a certain percentage lower than the QO. So yes was a fair deal for both sides, not a strong deal favouring Pinto like you claim, but as we have learnt, you like to exaggerate things.

 

[Sens of Anarchy]

 

[Sens of Anarchy]

Pinto with a goal and 2 assists today in USA's 6-2 win over Sweden,

also had a goal and 1 assist in their 5-2 win over Finland Thursday

He's been 3C on team USA centering 2 Cutter Gauthier and Will Smith.

He has 2 goals, 8 assists, 10 points in 7 games for the US averaging 14:15 TOI. His ice time has been creeping up 15:37 vs Finland and 16:49 today vs Sweden

He's been 55 and 19, 57.73% on faceoffs thru the 7 games

Team USA plays for gold vs the winner of Switzerland and Denmark tomorrow. USA should have a good chance to win their 1st gold at this event since 1933.

 

[UglyPuckling]

It seems that some are not that positive about Pinto’s offensive upside.

On those breakaway chances he got last year, I was always excited as he seemed to have the ability to place a good shot on net and score (just one example & others exist).

Maybe he’s being underrated offensively and the being cast as just a defensive shut down center a little too aggressively or prematurely?

It seems like there were a fair amount of people who cast Sanderson as a defensive defenseman as well.

 

[albator71]

I still believe that Pinto could be a 2C in the NHL, he reminds me a lot of Mike Fisher but with more offense.

 

[aragorn]

This is how I see the team & where we need to add over the next few yrs. Five forwards maybe Zetterlund becomes one of them or maybe not. Looking at the prospect pool & if we include Zetterlund where can we fit a couple of guys over the next few yrs?

Tkachuk - Stutzle - ???
??? - Cozens - Batherson
Greig - Pinto - ??? / Zetterlund
???/Montgomery - Halliday - ???/Boucher

Sanderson - Yakemchuk
Chabot - ???
Kleven - ??? = Matinpalo/Stanley

Ullmark - Merilainen/ Reidler/Nikulin

It seems that some are not that positive about Pinto’s offensive upside.

On those breakaway chances he got last year, I was always excited as he seemed to have the ability to place a good shot on net and score (just one example & others exist).

Maybe he’s being underrated offensively and the being cast as just a defensive shut down center a little too aggressively or prematurely?

It seems like there were a fair amount of people who cast Sanderson as a defensive defenseman as well.

I agree, people seem to only see the one side of him or the role that Green has him in at the moment & don't seem to see his other attributes that can be built on to be a much better performer. He's big, he skates well, plays a complete 200' game & we have seen that along with Greg is a constant threat to score on the PK. If they can find a good young playmaking RWer to play with them like Batherson they could have a dynamic trio. I think this would be a good experienced top six when Giroux & Perron retire. That would leave them to find good affordable bottom six which they have two yrs to find which may include some internal players/prospects they already have.

Tkachuk - Stutzle - Cozens
Greig - Pinto - Batherson

 

[devdawgsens]

IMO, the only debate when it comes to whether or not he is a 2C or a 3C comes from from the viewpoint of his point production. Assuming health is there, I expect he'll regularly get the minutes of a top 6 player and I fully expect he'll be a leader in forward minutes on many occasions next season.

 

[aragorn]

Pinto lost quite a bit of time because of the shoulder injury, then there was the gambling suspension. IMO we have yet to see the best this guy has to offer & he is only going to get better & better. We should sign him long term sooner rather than wait, he will only get more expensive as he gets better.