After producing career highs in goals and assists last season, all while playing in a taxing shutdown role, he vows he can still do more.

In the post-Brady Tkachuk era, the Ottawa Senators‘ offensive outlook is highly dependent on remaining core players filling the void.

Shane Pinto believes he can do his part.

While many players shy away from putting an actual number on their objectives, the 25-year-old centre has one particular benchmark in mind.

“As you get older, you feel better, you feel more confident kind of each year,” he told the Ottawa Citizen on the first day of training camp Thursday. “I mean, hopefully, I think I can get to 30 goals. I think that’s definitely obtainable.”

It absolutely is. Pinto had career-highs across the board last season with 23 goals and 23 assists in 72 games, all while playing the most difficult minutes amongst the forwards corps.

“I think I’ve improved each year, and I think I’ll continue to,” he said. “Obviously, I think with our team getting better, too, I think that always improves too. So, yeah, 30 goals hopefully. Like I said, I only care about the team making the playoffs, to be honest. I think, when the team make playoffs, I think everyone plays well.”

Typically used in the bumper position on the Senators’ second power-play unit in the past, perhaps Pinto gets a look on the top unit this season. There are also options to play him in the top six, moving Dylan Cozens over to the wing to make room on Line 2.

It’s early. Very early.

“I mean, obviously with the departures, guys are going to have to step up,” Pinto acknowledged. “And I think I definitely could play more of an offensive role. But you know, whatever Greener wants, he’s going to do and we’ll just kind of go from there.”

We were forewarned by head coach Travis Green to not read too deeply into line combinations and pairings during the opening days of training camp, and it proved a good rule to go by during Thursday’s afternoon session. Pinto was in between wingers Nick Cousins and Stephen Halliday.

It will be interesting to see whether the coaching staff rolls with a true shutdown line again this season. That would mean reuniting Pinto with winger Michael Amadio. The pair are now seen as one of the most reliable two-way duos in the National Hockey League. Only a few months ago, Pinto received eight first-place votes for the Selke Trophy as the league’s top defensive forward in 2025-26; Amadio had two second-place votes.

Pinto is entering the first year of a new contract extension that will pay him, on average, $7.5 million per year over four seasons. Entering his hockey prime now, there are expectations for him to improve in all facets of the game, but he’s already dealt with added responsibility brilliantly since the current coaching staff arrived.

“Last year I played a good amount,” Pinto said, “and obviously Greener put me in some pretty big roles, so I feel like it’s not going to change too much. I think that’s all mental, whether you put pressure on yourself. I mean, I’m a competitive person and I’m gonna put pressure on myself either way, whether I’m making a million dollars or whatever it is.”

There were changes in the off-season, no doubt. However, as Pinto looks around the locker room at the beginning of a new quest for the Stanley Cup, the foundation is similar. Just like they were for his first full NHL season, Tim Stutzle will be a couple stalls down his left, Drake Batherson on the right, while Jake Sanderson and Thomas Chabot sit across the room.

“It’s nice having that familiarity every year — you gain that chemistry every year,” Pinto said. “I know it’s kind of cliché, but every year you do play with each other you get closer, you become more (like) brothers, and it does show up on the ice.”

“To have that consistent core of these eight guys that we do have — or nine, whatever it is — it makes a difference,” he said. “And I’m excited for this year. I think everyone got (another) year under their belt. When you get one year older, it does matter in this league.”