Former Penguins forward Evan Rodrigues filling familiar role with Avalanche
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The Colorado Avalanche had two buses that transported players, coaches and staffers from their downtown hotel to PPG Paints Arena on Tuesday morning.
An early and a late bus, to be specific.
Forward Evan Rodrigues changed up his routine — he labeled himself as a “late-bus guy” — and caught the early ride.
He had ill intentions in mind.
As the Pittsburgh Penguins had team meetings, Rodrigues befouled their “court” for a hybrid of soccer and tennis that is played in the bowels of the arena and left a note for his former teammates.
“I knew when they were having their meetings,” Rodrigues boasted when explaining his master plan.
Rodrigues’ penchant for pranks made him a highly popular member of the Penguins during his tenure with the organization over portions of the three previous seasons.
That was evident when he took in the Penguins’ optional morning skate from the visiting bench Tuesday and he exchanged a handful of hugs with those on the ice.
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“He’s an awesome guy,” said Penguins forward Teddy Blueger, one of those who embraced Rodrigues. “Obviously, we miss him around here. Good to see he’s doing well and enjoying it (with the Avalanche).”
Rodrigues’ play with the Avalanche has been something to embrace this season. Entering Tuesday, he had 26 points (11 goals, 15 assists) in 37 games while averaging 19:12 of ice time per contest. And, much like his time with the Penguins, Rodrigues has filled a variety of roles among the forward ranks with a team that has had plenty of holes in the lineup because of medical issues.
“Still kind of playing up and down the lineup, playing all three (forward) positions,” Rodrigues said. “It’s something that I pride myself on and something that I enjoy doing.
“It’s something that I’ve done already in my short time (with the Avalanche). Something that I feel like I’ll continue to do throughout my career.”
Seemingly everyone involved would have liked that career to have continued in Pittsburgh, but, during the 2022 offseason, the Penguins expended most of their available salary cap space in re-signing franchise pillars such forward Evgeni Malkin and defenseman Kris Letang, as well as key supplemental pieces such as forwards Rickard Rakell and Bryan Rust.
The presumption of management was that Rodrigues, who set career highs in 2021-22 with 43 points (19 goals, 24 assists) in 82 games, would be out of the Penguins’ price range.
“It’s kind of the business of the game,” Rodrigues said. “It’s a place that I loved, my family loved. It would have been great to come back. But there’s obviously more to hockey than just wanting to be there. There’s a business side. Things didn’t work out, but I don’t have one negative thought about (the Penguins).”
As it turned out, Rodrigues did not sign a contract until very late in the offseason, when he agreed to a one-year deal worth a tidy $2 million. With most teams dealing with the lingering effects of the pandemic and the economic impact it had on the league’s salary cap, Rodrigues did not get the long-term, big-money deal many assumed he might garner after such a prolific 2021-22 campaign.
“Maybe a little stressful,” Rodrigues said when asked about what it was like going most of the summer without a contract. “But you kind of leave it to your agent, and he just told me to be patient. You just try to listen to him. It worked out well for me.”
Avalanche management is pleased with the bargain signing. After going through a lengthy playoff run and winning the Stanley Cup last season, the Avalanche had a short summer to recover and have dealt with a number of injuries this season, including to top-six forwards Gabriel Landeskog and Nathan MacKinnon.
“Obviously, we’ve gone through some injuries, lots of them to our top-six forwards,” Avalanche coach Jared Bednar said. “He’s a guy that’s kind of stepped right in, played top line, second line, first power-play (unit), second power-play (unit). He’s done some penalty kill for us. He’s done a lot of really good things for us. He’s a guy that can play with high-end skilled players and help your team produce offense and still responsibly check for us. I like the way he plays with the puck, manages it, takes care of it, likes to make plays with it.”
Rodrigues’ former coach offered a similar assessment.
“He was a guy that we moved all around the lineup,” Mike Sullivan said. “He can play center, he can play the wing, he can kill penalties, you can put him on the power play. He played on our top power-play unit at times. We moved him all over the lineup depending on what the need for the team was at the time. That was one of the values that he brought to our group. He’s a real competitive guy. He’s got a high hockey IQ. He was a real good player for us.”
The Penguins plucked Rodrigues out of the scrap heap that was the woebegone Buffalo Sabres via a trade in February of 2020. Regularly a healthy scratch in Buffalo, Rodrigues’ malleability allowed him to be a frequent member of a Penguins lineup that was typically pockmarked by injuries.
That opportunity led to him establishing firmer ground in his career as a viable NHLer. Last season was the first of his career in which he appeared in all 82 regular-season contests.
“Myself, my family, we loved our time here, two and a half-plus years,” the 29-year-old said. “I took the next step in my career while I was here, especially last year. We absolutely loved it here, loved everything about it. Loved the guys in the room. It was an awesome time that I was here.”
“Every time you step on the ice, you’re just trying to help your team win. That’s what I try to do, no matter where I play.”