NHL Rumors: Shane Pinto is back in Ottawa awaiting a new contract and eligibility to start practicing

Sportsnet: Elliotte Friedman and Jeff Marek on 32 Thoughts: The Podcast – Sleepless in Seattle for the Winter Classic episode on the Ottawa Senators pending free agent and suspended forward Shane Pinto.

** NHLRumors.com transactions

Marek: “Where is Shane Pinto in all this?

Friedman: “Well he’s back there now. We talked about a couple of weeks ago about how he moved back into the city. Jacque Martin said on Sunday, he now has a stall.

Marek: “Yep.”

Friend: “I think his first game back is January 21st against Philly, and I think he’s allowed to practice 10 days beforehand, but now he’s allowed to kind of be around. And I would expect, I would expect that he’s going to sign his qualifying offer. This year prorated.

However, I have heard unconfirmed by team and agent that they have since the GM change, they have talked about a longer-term deal.

Marek: “So he would be in that core picture.

Friedman: “He is definitely, yes. He is definitely part of the core. I forgot to name him because I had heard some rumors about Pinto potentially being out there. That the team wanted to move on and I was told in several places in no uncertain terms that they were, you know, they were, they were planning to keep him and he they considered him a big part of the group.

Now, Jeff, you know, you make a really good point that maybe this is just a new group getting in and they’re trying to say okay, this is our group and eventually there won’t be that many changes. I’m just saying someone who covers the league, Ottawa’s giving a definite vibe of expect the unexpected.”