Connor McMichael just signed a 2 year, 2.1M per bridge with Washington. He's the same age and same draft class as Pinto. Similar stat lines as well.
Good comparable.
Pinto played a bit of a higher role with Norris out this season, and projecting forward to this year Pinto is possibly slotted in as a two-way 2C if there is any uncertainty around the recovery or future performance of Norris. I think both those two things play into him being in a position to ask for more.
Ultimately, he really got screwed around last year because Dorion mismanaged the cap. The suspension saved the team from dealing with that. We don't know how reasonable both sides are being with this current negotiation, or who might be at fault for it dragging, but looking at the Senators current cap they are in a similar situation again where they don't have very much cap flexibility because they have multiple needs to address, and they also have multiple contracts Dorion signed or traded for that they either can't move, or it seems like they can't move in a productive way for appropriate value (Chychrun).
This isn't exactly the same as last year where there was no avenue to sign Pinto short of a close to league minimum deal, but I can see why the player and agent might be frustrated (if) they are being somewhat reasonable.