Weekly Question: Is Shane Pinto Ready?

The past 3 games have been a dream for the Ottawa Senators and the fans. The team has scored 18 goals at home and has had one of the most convincing winning streak they’ve had in such a long time; possibly even prior to the 2017 season.

The Cam Talbot injury wasn’t a great start but it seemed manageable especially knowing what Anton Forsberg is capable of. Now, we have a Josh Norris injury, a potentially very serious injury. Until we know more, we can expect that it’s probably a few weeks if not months considering there seems to be a significant amount of swelling.

With the offense being the driving force behind the recent wins; how does this injury impact the Senators going forward? Josh Norris may be having the slowest start to the season with 2 points in 5 games played but he is definitely not short on driving the offense and creating chances. There is another centre who is rising just as we all expected him to and that is Shane Pinto. The third line star now has 4 goals and 5 points in 5 games played and is showing no signs of slowing down. The logical move would be to have Pinto move up to replace Norris and Derick Brassard coming into the lineup to fill the Pinto void.

Pinto has shown great potential but is he ready to play more minutes and face the tougher competition? Pinto’s time on ice averages around 14 minutes compared to Norris’s average of 18 minutes and he definitely faces much easier competition being on the third line. On the flip side, while Matheiu Joseph and Tyler Motte have been playing well, they certainly are not Claude Giroux and Alex DeBrincat. Can we see a much elevated game from Pinto with new and improved linemates? Can we see a bit more from DeBrincat with Pinto on his line?

An injury to an important player like Josh Norris is never a good thing but unlike the past few season, we have options to mitigate the damage but is Shane Pinto really ready for the added responsibility?

Can Shane Pinto take Josh Norris’s Place?