Hobey Baker Award Hat Trick finalist Shane Pinto signs three-year deal with Ottawa Senators
Apr. 1—Shane Pinto is headed to the Ottawa Senators.
The National Collegiate Hockey Conference's player of the year has signed a three-year contract with the Senators, giving up his final two years of college eligibility.
Pinto will report directly to the Senators and join the club after serving a seven-day quarantine.
Pinto was the second non-senior to sign an NHL deal on Thursday, joining junior defenseman Jacob Bernard-Docker, who also is going to Ottawa. UND seniors Jordan Kawaguchi (Dallas Stars) and Matt Kiersted (Florida Panthers) also have signed pro contracts.
UND is still awaiting decisions from junior goalie Adam Scheel (free agent), junior forward Jasper Weatherby (San Jose Sharks draft pick) and Jake Sanderson (Ottawa draft pick).
Earlier Thursday, Pinto was announced as part of the Hobey Baker Hat Trick on Thursday along with Wisconsin forward Cole Caulfield and Minnesota State-Mankato goaltender Dryden McKay.
The award will be handed out next week — Friday, April 9 — at the NCAA Frozen Four in Pittsburgh.
Caufield, the NCAA's leader in goals with 30, is the heavy favorite to win it.
This is the second-straight season UND has had a player in the top three. A year ago, forward Jordan Kawaguchi made the Hobey Hat Trick, though Minnesota Duluth defenseman Scott Perunovich won the award.
Since the Hobey Baker Award Committee began announcing Hat Trick finalists in 2001, UND has had seven players in it: Pinto, Kawaguchi, goalie Zane McIntyre (2015), forward Matt Frattin (2011), forward Ryan Duncan (2007), forward Zach Parise (2004) and forward Jeff Panzer (2001).
Forward Greg Johnson was named runner-up in 1993.
UND's only two winners of the honor are forwards Tony Hrkac (1987) and Duncan.
Pinto had an excellent sophomore season at UND, tallying 32 points in 28 games. He dominated the National Collegiate Hockey Conference's awards, earning first-team all-league honors, while capturing the NCHC's player of the year, forward of the year and defensive forward of the year awards.
Pinto was the first player since the league formed in 2013-14 to be unanimously voted player of the year.
He centered one of UND's top-two lines and played in all situations.
Pinto led the NCHC with seven power-play goals and 14 power-play points, often overpowering goaltenders with his one-timer from the left circle. But the Franklin Square, N.Y., product proved to be just as important defensively, where he was one of the team's top penalty killers and often was called upon to win critical defensive zone draws.
Pinto won more faceoffs (388) and won them at a higher percentage (61.9) than anyone in the league. His faceoff winning percentage this season ranks second at UND since the school started keeping the stat in 2003-04, only behind Rhett Gardner's 62.3 (2018-19).
The second-round pick of the Ottawa Senators is currently trying to decide whether to turn pro or to return to UND for his junior season.
During his first two seasons at UND, Pinto has tallied 60 points in 61 games in helping the Fighting Hawks win back-to-back Penrose Cups as NCHC regular-season champions.
The Hobey Baker Award has been handed out every year since 1981. A year earlier, in 1980, UND's Mark Taylor was named the college hockey player of the year by The Hockey News.
