Pinto is going to be an interesting prospect to watch, although I'm just not certain whether he will be a centre or play RW where the Sens are thin & could use some size & skill. The future centres on this team as I see it are Brown & White, then there are numerous possibilities in Norris, Chlapik (if not traded), Pinto, Kastelic & maybe even Paul who played centre during his junior career. And of course if they draft any other centres over the course of the next few drafts like Byfield. Because the Sens are so thin on RW it would make the most sense to turn Pinto into a RWer unless they are targeting a couple in the next few drafts. Moving Norris to LW & Pinto to RW makes room for keeping Chlapik at centre but who knows what the org plans on doing with him given what we are reading.
IMO it could come down to one of Norris or Pinto playing centre in future or both if injuries occur, Zack Smith went back & forth from centre to LW during all of his time here in Ottawa including taking faceoffs. Norris is a 1st rd pick & IMO is the better playmaker however, I could also see them move him to LW to get his skillset on a higher line. Pinto to me is more of a 3rd line player that could end up playing more of a checking role on this team either at centre or RW who can fill in on a higher line when needed. At the least they have enough good young centres to fill 4 lines & upgrade the centre position substantially.
A future line of Formenton - Norris - Pinto would be interesting.
Formenton is going to be another interesting prospect given his speed but where in the lineup makes the most sense for his skill set? At the development camp they had Formenton play with L. Brown, a playmaking centre who can get him the puck & utilize his speed & Brown could use a tenacious pesky player to elevate his own level of determination & Alex is that kind of player. IMO the two could compliment each other with a goal scorer on the other wing like Batherson, but having said that they could also go with Paul back on Brown's wing as he was in Belleville, although Paul isn't as aggressive as Formenton. Norris at LW on the top line creates a more dynamic scoring line with Brown & Batherson, lots of options available to DJ Smith. They do have a number of pairs of players that are interesting in Brown & Batherson, Tkachuk & White, Formenton & Norris & Paul & Kastelic. Add Pinto to that group along with the best prospects they acquire at the next few drafts could create a pretty dynamic group of forwards.
