Senators’ Shane Pinto week-to-week with injury

Ottawa Senators head coach Travis Green announced on Sunday that center Shane Pinto will be out on a week-to-week basis with an undisclosed injury.

The timeline for return is the first detail about Pinto’s injury that has been made public, as we still have yet to learn what caused the injury or what the injury even is.

Pinto last played for the Sens on Tuesday in their 4-0 win over the Utah Hockey Club, although he did not leave the game at any point, even playing the final 34 seconds of the game. He was then deemed a game-time decision and ultimately missed Friday’s game against the Vegas Golden Knights.

Pinto has had a solid start to the season, with 1 goal and 2 assists for 3 points in 6 games. It’s good for a 41-point pace over 82 games that would be a career high for him, with his previous best of 35 points coming in 2022-23, although it is a step back from his best point-per-game pace of 27 points in 41 games in 2023-24.

Pinto was a second-round pick for the Senators in the 2019 NHL Draft out of the USHL, with Pinto deciding to play for the University of North Dakota for the following two seasons. After the conclusion of his second season there, he signed his entry-level contract and made his NHL debut in the final 12 games of the Sens’ 2020-21 season. This year marks Pinto’s fifth season in the NHL with the Sens.

Pinto is currently in the first year of a two-year contract with a $3.75 million contract, one he signed last summer as a restricted free agent.

The Sens will look to bounce back from their 6-4 loss to the Golden Knights on Friday when they visit the Colorado Avalanche on Sunday at 9 p.m. EST. They currently sit in sixth in the Atlantic Division with a 4-3-0 record.