Penguins A to Z: Who is the real Evan Rodrigues?
With the Penguins’ 2021-22 season coming to a quick ending in the first round of the playoffs, the Tribune-Review will offer Penguins A to Z, a player-by-player look at all 54 individuals signed to an NHL contract — including those whose deals do not begin until the 2022-23 season — with the organization, from mid-level prospect Niclas Almari to top-six winger Jason Zucker.
Evan Rodrigues
Position: Center
Shoots: Right
Age: 28
Height: 5-foot-11
Weight: 184 pounds
2021-22 NHL statistics: 82 games, 43 points (19 goals, 24 assists)
Contract: On a one-year contract with a salary cap hit of $1 million. Pending unrestricted free agent this upcoming offseason.
Acquired: Unrestricted free agent signing, Oct. 9, 2020
Last season: When the Penguins opened the 2021-22 campaign, the major question about their lineup revolved around their centers, specifically franchise pillars Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin. Both players were not available to open the season due to offseason surgeries.
The Penguins needed someone to fill in at center on their top two lines. Beyond cagey veteran Jeff Carter, the options weren’t all that appealing.
Evan Rodrigues enticed the coaching staff just enough to land one of those gigs.
And he justified that faith early in the season.
In the first 33 games of the season, Rodrigues was nearly a point-per-game player as he posted 30 points (15 goals, 15 assists) while filling in one of the top-two lines as well on the top power-play unit.
He even supplanted Carter as the team’s top center for a brief spell when Carter was sidelined due to covid-19. Most notably, Rodrigues had a goal and an assist to spearhead a resounding 7-1 home win against the stacked Toronto Maple Leafs on Oct. 23.
On Jan. 2, Rodrigues recorded his first career hat trick in an 8-5 home win against the San Jose Sharks.
Then, the scoring largely dried up once Crosby and Malkin were each back in the lineup. In his final 49 games of the regular season, Rodrigues, typically deployed in a lesser role, was mostly inert as he posted a mere 13 points (four goals, nine assists) over that span.
Despite such a lackluster second half of the season, Rodrigues, who was the only member of the roster to appear in all 82 games, set career highs in goals and points.
During the Penguins’ first-round loss to the Rangers in the playoffs, Rodrigues appeared in seven games and posted five points (three goals, two assists).
The future: Rodrigues isn’t the Penguins’ most valuable player, but he is their most versatile. And he might be one of their most trusted, particularly with the coaching staff.
Given his ability to play all three forward positions, coach Mike Sullivan and staff have not hesitated to put him in virtually every role, big and small.
If it were strictly up to Sullivan, Rodrigues would get a new multi-year contract.
That said, Rodrigues’ flat second half of the season can’t be ignored. While he was hardly an empty jersey during that span, the drop in his production certainly was a detriment.
Rodrigues is definitely worth re-signing at the right price and term just given his malleability. But given the hot and cold nature of his 2021-22 season, it’s fair to wonder who is the real Evan Rodrigues? The guy who looked like a 20-goal scorer or the unremarkable player in the final months of the regular season?
Seth Rorabaugh is a TribLive reporter covering the Pittsburgh Penguins. A North Huntingdon native, he joined the Trib in 2019 and has covered the Penguins since 2007. He can be reached at srorabaugh@triblive.com.
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