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What’s next for Shane Pinto, Pierre Dorion and Senators after gambling suspension?

Published

11 months ago

October 28, 2023

There was a touch of irony that the news about Shane Pinto’s suspension broke while the Ottawa Senators were getting set to play the New York Islanders at UBS Arena.

Pinto’s family home is located roughly three miles from the Islanders’ home arena. And when the Senators paid a visit there in February, I had a chance to spend time with Pinto’s family inside their home in Franklin Square.

When Pinto released his statement on Thursday, he highlighted the importance of his family.

“I want to apologize to the National Hockey League, the Ottawa Senators, my teammates, the fans and city of Ottawa and most importantly my family,” the statement from Pinto read.

With that in mind, I encourage people to re-read this feature on Pinto’s unlikely rise to the NHL. It will remind you of the human element to these stories, and that when a controversy about an athlete emerges, it will have a significant impact on the people closest to them. I am certain there is a great deal of embarrassment for Pinto right now, but most of his regret probably centers around how he let his family down.

We’ve seen athletes come back to the NHL after committing far more egregious acts than Pinto’s involvement in a gambling-related incident. So, in due time, this will blow over and I suspect most reasonable Ottawa fans will accept him back. Senators fans warmly embraced Bobby Ryan when he scored his memorable hat trick in his first game back after leaving the team to enroll in the NHL/NHLPA player assistance program. If Pinto shows an appropriate amount of contrition and sincerity, Ottawa fans have proven they can be a forgiving group.

In the here and now, the Pinto development does bring a degree of clarity to the Ottawa roster. The trade winds around the likes of Mathieu Joseph and Dominik Kubalik can ease. People can stop submitting their wild suggestions for how the Senators can engage in some salary-cap gymnastics to try and fit Pinto into their roster this month.

With his 41-game suspension already running, the earliest Pinto could suit up and play for the Senators is Game No. 42 of the regular season, which falls on Jan. 21 in Philadelphia.

Pierre Dorion likely feels he’s in a position of power in the contract negotiations with Pinto’s camp. (Dave Sandford / NHLI via Getty Images)

That buys general manager Pierre Dorion a little bit of time.

By the time he needs to insert Pinto into his roster, the general manager should have a very good idea if this is a playoff-caliber team or not. And by that point, the candidate to jettison in a trade should become very evident to Dorion.

Dorion is a polarizing figure in Ottawa, and it isn’t surprising that his handling of the Pinto situation can be viewed through two vastly different prisms.

The first is that Dorion still deserves criticism for not locking up Pinto to a contract this summer — well before the news of his potential suspension came onto the radar. Dorion is still in the same predicament as he was before, with a roster that is at the salary-cap ceiling despite not having a young, team-controlled center under contract. Dorion prioritized signings of Vladimir Tarasenko, Joonas Korpisalo, Erik Brannstrom, Travis Hamonic and Zack MacEwen ahead of Pinto. He brought in $2.5 million of Kubalik for the 2023-24 season before he had anything with Pinto locked down.

Ottawa is still wearing salary-cap handcuffs — a situation that has nothing to do with Pinto’s gambling suspension. Dorion has been given some time, but he hasn’t created any extra salary-cap room. He shouldn’t be doing any victory laps for unexpectedly inheriting a peculiar situation that came out of left field.

Now, the flip side is that Dorion probably feels like he’s in a position of power in the contract negotiations with Pinto’s camp. Pinto has lost some leverage, since the most he can do is play half a season for Ottawa in 2023-24. And there is the school of thought that Pinto’s camp might appreciate the discretion shown by Ottawa management around this story, so maybe everybody will play a little nicer in the sandbox.

But if Dorion manages to cut down Pinto’s contract, the only reason he stumbled into that potentially advantageous situation is by sheer luck. This wasn’t the result of shrewd negotiating tactics.

The value of Pinto’s next deal will be fascinating. Strip aside this recent news cycle and Pinto is still a 22-year-old right-shot center with a 20-goal rookie season under his belt. He clearly felt his value was worth closer to $2.5 million per season on a multi-year deal — a price the Senators didn’t seem comfortable paying.

Does Pinto simply sign a one-year deal, play out this season at a discounted rate and revisit a new contract next summer? Or would he rather get a little bit of security now — even though he’s not dealing from a position of strength — and just focus on hockey? Either path probably leads to a deal worth less than $2.5 million annually, but we shouldn’t just assume Pinto and his agent, Lewis Gross, will quickly accept the base qualifying offer of $874,125. There is still an active negotiation at play here, so we should expect some back-and-forth.

Whenever Pinto comes back into the mix — whether that’s in late January or beyond — Dorion will need to create salary-cap room. As of Thursday, the Senators had just under $50,000 in salary cap space, according to CapFriendly. Thanks to an injury to Artem Zub, the Senators travelled to New York with the bare minimum 18 skaters and two goalies. They have no wiggle room.

Right now, it feels like Joseph has firmly played his way into a regular spot inside Ottawa’s top-nine forward group. Trading him seems highly unpalatable when he’s playing with this type of pace, consistency and productivity. Kubalik might be the most logical candidate to move, considering he’s been slow out of the gate, with no points in his first six games in Ottawa. There is plenty of time for Kubalik to resurrect his game in the next two months, but he becomes the most likely candidate to be moved if his game continues to flatline.

If there is one on-ice positive to the Pinto station, it’s that Ridly Greig has seemed to carve out a full-time NHL role for himself. He’s created nice chemistry with Joseph and Tarasenko, showing off an offensive side to his pesky game. Greig has shown he can play at this level and if he’s able to maintain this pace when Pinto returns, there is a legitimate logjam down the middle. Moving Greig to the wing is a viable option for the Senators, provided they can find the room to fit everybody under the cap when Pinto re-enters the picture.

Dorion received a temporary reprieve from the salary-cap gods with the Pinto suspension this week.

He’s able to kick the can down the road, at least for a couple of months. But Dorion’s next big move — in order to create some salary cap space to fit in Pinto — will also require a great deal of luck and fortune to fall his way.

(Top photo: Richard A. Whittaker / Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)

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Fernandez and Dabrowski headline Canadian lineup for Billie Jean King Cup Finals

Published

41 mins ago

September 16, 2024

Anne Joseph

TORONTO – Singles star Leylah Fernandez and doubles specialist Gabriela Dabrowski will anchor Canada’s five-player lineup when the team tries to defend its Billie Jean King Cup title in mid-November.

The 26th-ranked Fernandez, the 2021 U.S. Open finalist from Laval, Que., is the lone Canadian in the top 100 of the WTA Tour’s singles rankings.

Dabrowski, from Ottawa, is ranked fourth on the doubles list. The 2023 U.S. Open women’s doubles champion won mixed doubles bronze with Felix Auger-Aliassime at the recent Paris Olympics.

Marina Stakusic of Mississauga, Ont., returns after a breakout performance last year, capped by her singles win in Canada’s 2-0 victory over Italy in the final. Vancouver’s Rebecca Marino is also back and Bianca Andreescu, the 2019 U.S. Open champion from Mississauga, Ont., returns to the squad for the first time since 2022.

“Winning the Billie Jean King Cup in 2023 was a dream come true for us, and not only that, but I feel like we made a statement to the world about the strength of this nation when it comes to tennis,” Canada captain Heidi El Tabakh said Monday in a release. “Once again, we have a very strong team this year with Bianca joining Leylah, Gaby, Rebecca and Marina, making it an extremely powerful team that is more than capable of going all the way.

“At the end of the day, our goal is to make Canada proud, and we’ll do our best to bring the same level of effort and excitement that we had in last year’s finals.”

Fernandez, who beat Jasmine Paolini to clinch Canada’s first-ever title at the competition, is ranked No. 42 in doubles.

Canada, which received an automatic berth as defending champion, will play the winner of the first-round tie between Great Britain and Germany on Nov. 17 at Malaga’s Martin Carpena Arena.

Australia, Italy and wild-card entry Czechia also received first-round byes. The tournament, which continues through Nov. 20, also includes host Spain, Slovakia, the United States, Poland, Japan and Romania.

Stakusic is up 27 spots to No. 128 in the latest world singles rankings. Marino is at No. 134 and Andreescu, the 2019 U.S. Open champion, is ranked 167th.

Canada will look to become the first team since Czechia in 2016 to successfully defend its Billie Jean King Cup title.

Malaga will also host the Nov. 19-24 Davis Cup Final 8. The Canadian men qualified over the weekend with a 2-1 victory over Great Britain in Manchester.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 16, 2024.

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Penguins re-sign Crosby to two-year extension that runs through 2026-27 season

Published

55 mins ago

September 16, 2024

Anne Joseph

PITTSBURGH – Sidney Crosby plans to remain a Pittsburgh Penguin for at least three more years.

The Penguins announced on Monday that they re-signed the 37-year-old from Cole Harbour, N.S., to a two-year contract extension that has an average annual value of US$8.7 million. The deal runs through the 2026-27 season.

Crosby was eligible to sign an extension on July 1 with him entering the final season of a 12-year, $104.4-million deal that carries an $8.7-million salary cap hit.

At the NHL/NHLPA player media tour in Las Vegas last Monday, he said things were positive and he was optimistic about a deal getting done.

The three-time Stanley Cup champion is coming off a 42-goal, 94-point campaign that saw him finish tied for 12th in the league scoring race.

Crosby has spent all 19 of his NHL seasons in Pittsburgh, amassing 592 goals and 1,004 assists in 1,272 career games.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 16, 2024.

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Slovenia’s Tadej Pogacar wins Grand Prix Cycliste de Montreal

Published

12 hours ago

September 16, 2024

Anne Joseph

MONTREAL – Tadej Pogacar was so dominant on Sunday, Canada’s Michael Woods called it a race for second.

Pogacar, a three-time Tour de France champion from Slovenia, pedalled to a resounding victory at the Grand Prix Cycliste de Montreal.

The UAE Team Emirates leader crossed the finish line 24 seconds ahead of Spain’s Pello Bilbao of Bahrain — Victorious to win the demanding 209.1-kilometre race on a sunny, 28 C day in Montreal. France’s Julian Alaphilippe of Soudal Quick-Step was third.

“He’s the greatest rider of all time, he’s a formidable opponent,” said Woods, who finished 45 seconds behind the leader in eighth. “If you’re not at your very, very best, then you can forget racing with him, and today was kind of representative of that.

“He’s at such a different level that if you follow him, it can be lights out.”

Pogacar slowed down before the last turn to celebrate with the crowd, high-five fans on Avenue du Parc and cruise past the finish line with his arms in the air after more than five hours on the bike.

The 25-year-old joined Belgium’s Greg Van Avermaet as the only multi-time winners in Montreal after claiming the race in 2022. He also redeemed a seventh-place finish at the Quebec City Grand Prix on Friday.

“I was disappointed, because I had such good legs that I didn’t do better than seventh,” Pogacar said. “To bounce back after seventh to victory here, it’s just an incredible feeling.”

It’s Pogacar’s latest win in a dominant year that includes victories at the Tour de France and Giro d’Italia.

Ottawa’s Woods (Israel Premier-Tech) tied a career-best in front of the home crowd in Montreal, but hoped for more after claiming a stage at the Spanish Vuelta two weeks ago.

“I wanted a better result,” the 37-year-old rider said. “My goal was a podium, but at the same time I’m happy with the performance. In bike racing, you can’t always get the result you want and I felt like I raced really well, I animated the race, I felt like I was up there.”

Pogacar completed the 17 climbs up and down Mount Royal near downtown in five hours 28 minutes 15 seconds.

He made his move with 23.3 kilometres to go, leaving the peloton in his dust as he pedalled into the lead — one he never relinquished.

Bilbao, Alaphilippe, Alex Aranburu (Movistar Team) and Bart Lemmen (Visma–Lease) chased in a group behind him, with Bilbao ultimately separating himself from the pack. But he never came close to catching Pogacar, who built a 35-second lead with one lap left to go.

“It was still a really hard race today, but the team was on point,” Pogacar said. “We did really how we planned, and the race situation was good for us. We make it hard in the last final laps, and they set me up for a (takeover) two laps to go, and it was all perfect.”

Ottawa’s Derek Gee, who placed ninth in this year’s Tour de France, finished 48th in Montreal, and called it a “hard day” in the heat.

“I think everyone knows when you see Tadej on the start line that it’s just going to be full gas,” Gee said.

Israel Premier-Tech teammate Hugo Houle of Sainte-Perpétue, Que., was 51st.

Houle said he heard Pogacar inform his teammates on the radio that he was ready to attack with two laps left in the race.

“I said then, well, clearly it’s over for me,” Houle said. “You see, cycling isn’t that complicated.”

Australia’s Michael Matthews won the Quebec City GP for a record third time on Friday, but did not finish in Montreal. The two races are the only North American events on the UCI World Tour.

Michael Leonard of Oakville, Ont., and Gil Gelders and Dries De Bondt of Belgium broke away from the peloton during the second lap. Leonard led the majority of the race before losing pace with 45 kilometres to go.

Only 89 of 169 riders from 24 teams — including the Canadian national team — completed the gruelling race that features 4,573 metres in total altitude.

Next up, the riders will head to the world championships in Zurich, Switzerland from Sept. 21 to 29.

Pogacar will try to join Eddy Merckx (1974) and Stephen Roche (1987) as the only men to win three major titles in a season — known as the Triple Crown.

“Today gave me a lot of confidence, motivation,” Pogacar said. “I think we are ready for world championships.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 15, 2024.

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