Shane Pinto Continues Great 2025 With Gold Medal

Yesterday, the United States won their first World Championship since 1933. This followed a 4 Nations Face-off where they took Canada to overtime in the championship game. They’ve also won back-to-back World Junior golds. Year after year, American born players are selected high in the draft. If you’re an Ottawa Senators fan, you’re likely a Canadian which makes this a frustrating paragraph. Here’s the good news, though. The Ottawa Senators jumped on selecting USA talent in the draft a decade ago, when they selected Colin White in the first round. The next year they took American Logan Brown 11th overall. Those picks didn’t work out as well as the more recent Americans they’ve selected high in the draft.

Between 2018-2020, the Senators selected four Americans in the first or second round. Those players were Brady Tkachuk, Jake Sanderson, Tyler Kleven and Shane Pinto. So even if the Americans continue to have success internationally, you can expect the Senators fanbase to have someone to cheer for on those American teams. That was the case at the World Championships, where Shane Pinto helped Team USA to gold. Let’s dive into the details on Pinto’s strong tournament, and his great play in 2025.

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By the Numbers

Shane Pinto played eight games at the tournament, scoring 2 goals and 10 points. His 8 assists tied for the team lead and his 10 points put him in a tie for third on Team USA. He was his normal two-way self, being asked to contribute on face-offs and as a defensive player. The Gold Medal game ended up being a 1-0 overtime win, so Pinto and the rest of Team USA certainly did their jobs defensively.

In late November, I wrote about Shane Pinto’s struggles to start the season. Between injuries and lacklustre production, Pinto wasn’t anywhere near good enough in the first couple of months. Well, it was just one month later that I was writing about Pinto’s resurgence. That was late December of 2024. His play only progressed from there. Here were his numbers in 2025, and where he ranked among Senators players.

• Regular season: 42 games, 15 goals (1st), 28 points (4th), +12 (2nd)

Here are a couple of other notable Pinto stats during that time frame: His 23 even strength points tied him for first on the Sens. His three shorthanded goals ranked first on the Sens and tied for third in the NHL. As for the playoffs, he scored one goal and two points in six games. What stood out in that first round series was how much Travis Green relied on him. His line with Ridly Greig and Michael Amadio was constantly matched against the Auston Matthews line. Pinto averaged 19:53 time on ice per game in the playoffs. Only Tim Stützle averaged more among Senators forwards.

Final Thoughts

Next year will be the last season of Shane Pinto’s two year contract with a cap hit of $3.75 million. It seems clear that Pinto has established himself a a key piece to the Senators success. He is their go-to defensive centre, being asked to play over two minutes per game on the penalty kill, and receiving a ton of defensive zone starts.  Even with the defensive expectations, he led the Senators in goals from late November until the end of the regular season.

Pinto has dealt with his share of disruptions in his early seasons with the Senators. He played just 41 games in 2023-24 because of suspension. He played only five games in 2021-22 because of injury. At just 24 years old and with the growth he showed as a two-way player this season, there’s a good chance that Pinto’s best hockey is still to come. This summer, the Senators can begin negotiating his next contract. Given his importance to the team, that should be a priority for Steve Staios and the Senators. As for what that contract could end up looking like? Well, that’s another article for another day.