Could Flyers & Senators Pick Up Discussion Involving Potential Shane Pinto Trade?

The Ottawa Senators are still struggling to get their final RFA Shane Pinto signed before the start of the season. The longer this drags out, the more time he's away from the team and missing games. The young centerman served mainly as the second line center last season, but with Josh Norris returning to the lineup this season, Pinto will move back into a full time 3C role.

With the time he put in playing in the top-six, I can see why the two sides can't come to an agreement, even if it's short-term. The Senators are trying to find solutions to this and spoke with the Philadelphia Flyers previously. The Flyers approached the Senators with an offer for Pinto, revealed by Anthony Di Marco. This provided the Senators with the means to dump Mathieu Joseph's contract as well. Ottawa has been trying to move that contract that has three years left at $2.95 million AAV. Both would head over to the Flyers and the Senators would get something good in return. We just don't know exactly what that is.

After the Flyers had seemingly moved on from that proposal, the Senators might feel the need to now reach out to them to help their situation. I think Pinto is a great third line talent for now, but there isn't much room to grow unless one of him, Norris, or Tim Stutzle move to the wing eventually.

The Senators preference is to sign Pinto, as noted by Elliotte Friedman on 32 Thoughts: The Podcast. If the team can find a way to move Joseph after a down season without giving up too much, then that will be their solution to signing Pinto before the season. The Flyers might be willing to still take on that contract.