Shane Pinto signed a one-year, $775,000 contract with the Ottawa Senators on Friday.
The 23-year-old forward, who was a restricted free agent, had NHL career highs in goals (20), assists (15) and points (35) playing in all 82 games last season.
Selected in the second round (No. 32) of the 2019 NHL Draft, Pinto has 43 points (21 goals, 22 assists) in 99 regular season games.
The Senators (16-24-0) host the Winnipeg Jets on Saturday (3 p.m. ET; CBC, TVAS, SN), but Pinto will not be allowed to play, serving the final game of his 41-game suspension for activities relating to sports wagering. He is eligible to return when Ottawa plays at the Philadelphia Flyers on Sunday.
"It's just awesome, it's special," Pinto said Jan. 12, when he skated with the team for the first time since being suspended. "You kind of take it for granted, being around the team and how much the boys mean to you. It's just good to be back. ... It's been a long road for me and I'm just happy to be around the fellas."
Ottawa, which is last in the Eastern Conference, fired coach D.J. Smith and replaced him with Jacques Martin on Dec. 18; Ottawa is 5-9-0 since.
"It was definitely a couple of hard days, a lot of long days but I just had a lot of people in my corner and it just means a lot," Pinto said of his suspension. "It broke my heart, honestly. I care about this game so much. I put so much time and effort into it and just to kind of get it taken away from you for that long, it's just tough to hear. ... We're at the finish line here and I'm just excited for it."
