The who, the what, the why is Shane Pinto
Written by: AJ Bhuller
All is well in Sens land right now. The forwards are clicking on all cylinders. The defence is shutting it down and contributing offensively. The goaltending has been steady. Even Josh Norris found a way to worry us all. But it turns out, he was sitting out to give other teams a chance to start the year. Despite all the great things happening with this team, an elephant is in the room. There is something for parts of the fan base to worry about. Enter The Shane Pinto waiting game.
What We Know So Far
Image retrieved from: thefourthperiod.com
It's hard to imagine, as good as this team has looked, it is doing all this while missing one of the bright young two-way centers in the game. We have heard a few things about Pinto as of late: Dollars, cents and terms might be worked out. A pending trade might already be in place. But still, we wait. There are rumblings, that this might not have to do with pending transactions at all, that we might have a good old-fashioned holdout on our hands. Until GM Pierre Dorion officially gives us an update, we all need to take things with a grain of salt.
Why We Are Still Waiting
For me two things are clear: It's not easy to figure out who to move, to make space for Pinto. And the big one for me is, that there is no way you can make a smart subsequent move to get Pinto in under the cap until you have seen a larger sample size of where Josh Norris is at. Imagine a world where Dorion moved Mathieu Joseph in the summer only to put Norris (knock on wood) on LTIR to start the year. Norris stormed out of the gate against Washington, but uncertainty still surrounds his long-term health. We cannot move Joseph until we know for sure Josh Norris is good to go for the long haul. Especially the way Joseph has played back into our hearts. Joseph, to his credit, has gotten off to a torrid start. He has two goals and four points in four games played. He could have added a couple of more goals against Washington. He hit the post and just missed on a shorthanded, partial breakaway. He has been valuable and irreplaceable in his role for this team to start the season. Through the first four games, he is averaging his highest Time On Ice in his career at 16:44 minutes per. At even strength, he has a higher Corsi For (CF%) and Fenwick For (FF%) than Tim Stützle! We all know what he can do on the penalty kill, WHO IS THIS GUY!?
Who Should We Move
Photo credits: Chris Tanouye/Freestyle Photo
This is not an easy question to answer. Most of us have likely woken up with a different answer in our heads, with each changing day. As stated earlier, trading Joseph would be disastrous for this team right now. Most Sens fans would agree, we should eliminate him from this list for now. At only 26 years of age, there is a spot for him long-term on this iteration of The Ottawa Senators. What about Erik Brännström? You have likely thought of this as well. However, a quick peek at our depth chart on Defense will show that this would challenge us in this position. There is no sure-fire way to replace Brännström from within the organization right now. Matinpalo, Kleven or even Thomson might be ready to step in. But during a year most are calling for playoffs or bust, we cannot afford an unproven player over a long stretch on the back end. Dorion would likely be looking for a replacement come the trade deadline for a piece we could have already had. Plus factor in the injury history of Chychrun, Chabot and even Sanderson before he joined the NHL. We need to be careful here. For me the obvious answer keeps coming back to Dominik Kubalik. Look, I am excited about all our new toys as much as the next person. And damn, Kubalik looked good on a line with Norris and Batherson against Washington. The facts still remain, you can easily replace a player like Kubalik from within. He is a player we don't need when you can give a chance to Roby Jarventie, who should have made this team out of camp. He brings similar attributes to Kubalik. Fore and back checking forward who can SHNIPE when needed. Consider that Pinto would come in replacing Kubalik, directly. Pinto is an upgrade on Kubalik on both sides of the puck. We cannot have our cake and eat it too right now, sorry! We have many forwards who already do what Kubalik can, and more efficiently. We don't have another forward who does what Joseph does, at his speed and pace. I heard on the broadcast versus Washington that The Senators had broken a record for most goals scored in the first four games to start a Senators season. All this has happened without Kubalik putting up a single point and only going +1.
Worry Less about Josh Norris
Wanted to write a complete article on Josh Norris' shoulder. But he is a god and has come back erasing all thoughts of his injury (knock on wood). I dug into what type of shoulder injury Norris has. This is speculation based on my research that most other shoulder-related surgeries are in regard to frozen shoulder, arthritis and impingement syndrome. Since he sustained his injury as a result of physical injury, we can speculate it was a Rotator Cuff Repair. According to online searches, there is a 90 percent chance for a mere mortal to fully recover from this injury. And make no mistake, Josh Norris is no mere mortal. He is considered a freaky athlete and a gym rat. Plenty of reason to think optimistically that Norris is going to be fine. To help solidify your optimism, other athletes to enjoy great careers after Rotator Cuff surgery include Ray Lewis, whose job it was to grab and throw 300-pound athletes. Star Quarterback Drew Brees whose job it is to throw a football with power and velocity underwent surgery to repair a torn labrum near the end of the 2005 season. He came back to play the first game of the 2006 season. Since that time, he has thrown among the most yards and touchdowns in the league.
Breathe a sigh of relief folks and just enjoy the good times right now, we all deserve it! The Pinto situation will resolve soon and we will be that much better for it. If you find yourself worrying in the meantime, do as I always do:
*Deep breath in, breathe out, whisper… Timmmmm Stützleeeeeeeeee. Rinse and repeat this. You can even do a variation for Jakeeeee Sandersonnnnnnn.
