Shane Pinto isn’t even 24 years old, yet he already looks like one of the best players on the Ottawa Senators roster. Yet, for half of the 2023-24 season, the Senators were forced to play without Pinto thanks to a half-season suspension.
A contract dispute between Pinto and the Senators already kept the player off the ice to start the season, but the NHL threw the book at him in late October. The league announced that Pinto would be suspended for 41 games due to a violation of the NHL’s sports betting guidelines.
Pinto’s suspension was one of the longest in league history. It followed a multiple-month investigation that found no evidence of him gambling on NHL games, but the league still handed out the hefty suspension.
In a recent interview with the Empty Netters Podcast, Pinto provided new details about the situation and why he didn’t dispute the suspension. Pinto stated that he had some friends in the United States place bets under his account while living in Canada.
“I had my buddies… just place bets for me in America,” Pinto said. “I wasn’t a Canadian citizen, so I couldn’t use a Canadian sportsbook.”
When information was released regarding the suspension, Pinto’s account was flagged in connection to a proxy bettor.
“That’s proxy betting,” Pinto said. “That’s obviously a big no-no. It was an illegal act… that’s why we didn’t want to fight it. We Just kind of accepted it.”
Pinto was suspended and not allowed to return to the Senators lineup until Jan. 21, 2024. Two days before he was eligible to return, the Senators signed him to a one-year contract at $775,000 to finish the 2023-24 season.
Pinto played all 41 games remaining in the season, scoring nine goals and 18 assists for 27 points.
“Thank God I played a good 41 games.”
At the end of the year, Pinto was still a restricted free agent with the Senators, but they were quicker to offer him a new deal. On the second day of free agency, Pinto signed a two-year contract worth $3.75 million annually.