His performance was seen here by some as so poor; and that he so negatively effected DeBrincat's numbers that he would only be worth a 1 - 1.5m extension or less. Someone asked "In What World is Pinto worth 2m?".
Its pretty obvious the league minimum he is on now is a direct result of the suspension and the cap trouble the Sens were in. There was no sitting out or forcing a trade going to happen at that point.
Any guesses what his next contract comes in at.. Pinto cannot become a UFA until 2028.. so a three year bridge may happen.. ending in 2027 as an RFA; Or the Sens may lock him up buying up UFA years.
My guess ; if all things continue without unforeseen hiccups A 3 year will be in the 3.5 - 4m range and I think the Sens get good value there. A longer term deal will be in 6m neighborhood. My guess is a bridge.
In What world is he worth that I wonder.
I don't think anybody said Pinto was poor here (he had 20 goals ffs), they just pointed out that he was a rookie playing higher in the lineup than was ideal for that stage in his development. And the 1-1.5 was based off a 1 year deal as group 10.2 (c) RFA with no arb rights. But hey, context is overrated when trying to spin a narrative,
As for 2 mil, to put that into a Sens specific context, Hoffman got awarded 2 mil in arbitration when the cap was around 71.5, after putting up 27 goals and 48 pts. Both are one year deals where you are not paying for potential, just expected performance for that one year and Arbitration does it based on what the market will pay.
I think everybody would have given Pinto 2 mil or more with a bit of term if that was possible, but the reality is the teams cap situation was preventing that, so in the context of a 1 year deal, and his lack of negotiating rights, it wasn't going to happen unless we made room via a trade, but in that world, we're no longer talking about a 1 year deal, so it doesn't relate to people saying 1-1.5.
