Are Shane Pinto and Ottawa Senators at crossroads in contract talks?

Ottawa Senators centre Shane Pinto skates during a game against the Buffalo Sabres. AP PHOTO

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The Ottawa Senators and Shane Pinto need to determine the right price.

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The Senators centre continued to add to his October point total with an assist on Lars Eller’s shorthanded effort in a 4-3 overtime victory over the Calgary Flames on Thursday at the Canadian Tire Centre.

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As the Senators prepare to face the Montreal Canadiens on Saturday at the Bell Centre, Pinto has posted eight goals, three assists and 11 points in the club’s first 12 games of the season.

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A restricted free agent on July 1 with the right to file for arbitration, Pinto’s hot start has left everybody wondering what kind of raise he’s going to get after making $3.75 million US this season in the final year of an extension he signed in July 2024.

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Steve Staios, the club’s president of hockey operations and general manager, doesn’t discuss negotiations publicly, but has stated that he’d like to get the 24-year-old Pinto signed to a long-term deal.

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Those talks are continuing with the hope that there will be a resolution soon, and Pinto is playing a key role under coach Travis Green with an average of 19 minutes per game in ice time.

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Trying to bridge the gap after talks with Pinto’s New York-based agent, Lewis Gross, went nowhere in the summer and were shelved before training camp in September, league sources told Postmedia that the Senators offered an eight-year, $52-million deal in mid-October.

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That deal would carry an average annual value of $6.5 million, which is a far cry from the eight-year offer the club made in the summer that carried a $5 million AAV in the summer. The new offer wasn’t enough to get it done, but it does serve notice to Pinto that the club wants him.

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The talk in league circles is that Pinto’s camp feels his contract should be somewhere between the $7.1 million that Dylan Cozens is making on a deal he signed with the Buffalo Sabres before being traded to Ottawa and the $8.35 million that Tim Stutzle is pulling in.

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We’re also told that Pinto has to determine if he wants to stay in Ottawa for the next eight seasons or does he wants a shorter term to see how the franchise progresses. Staios wants to solidify the middle of the ice with Tim Stutzle signed through 2031 and Dylan Cozens on board until 2030.

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Captain Brady Tkachuk’s contract will be up at the end of the 2027-28 campaign, which raises the question of whether the Senators can keep this group together. Tkachuk will be a free agent in the same class as Toronto captain Auston Matthews and Edmonton captain Connor McDavid.