From what I recall, I think that's right. He didn't really excel at anything in particular, but the biggest area of concern was his "compete" level. I think that improved last season, but he does seem very vanilla.
When I think of him as a player, Iafallo comes to mind. Not sure if that's fair or not as I haven't really seen him play that much.
Only reason why I disagree with Iafallo is he's a genuine puck hound. Pinelli gets by more on hockey sense, where he knows when to attack and when to fall back. I try to be careful in comparisons to other players, because it leads to unfair expectations (or I don't sing enough praise and I'm "hating" him).
But I just see him as someone akin to JAD. Good sense for the game, works hard. Just doesn't have a particular strength that makes it easy to define a role for him, so he becomes more of a jack of all trades type of player because he does have game sense, but ultimately may have a harder battle to play in the NHL regularly.
And that's okay. He's a second-round pick without a defining skillset. He's a perfect candidate to get plenty of time in the AHL to hone his skills.