Blackhawks: Signing Evan Rodrigues

One of my personal favourite players that is still an unrestricted free agent is former Pittsburgh Penguin Evan Rodrigues. At 29 years old, Rodrigues would be a perfect addition to the team. A guy who can play a full 200 foot game, while having a scoring touch for the middle six forward group is something every team wants. With the market dwindling down to its final few signings, it’s likely Rodrigues makes his decision soon, so getting an offer out to him soon would be ideal.

Last season, Rodrigues had a career year. In 82 games for the Penguins he scored 19 goals and 24 assists for a total of 43 points. Up until last season, his career high in points was 20, so it’s been a huge step up for him. At 5-foot-11, 184 pounds, Rodrigues is a speedy player that utilizes his quick feet to create scoring opportunities for himself and his teammates, and it showed. He played a significant role in the Penguins depth, and it was quite the shocker when they didn’t try harder to lock him up with a new contract. He finished 6th in Penguins team scoring, so a guy like that will definitely be picked up by another team, and they’ll be getting themselves a really solid player. 

A contract for Rodrigues would likely be a 2-3 year deal worth $1.25-1.75M AAV, which is a really smart, affordable contract for the Blackhawks. If they bring him in, he likely pencils into the teams top 6 forward group right off the hop, and could become one of the pieces the Blackhawks keep around past the rebuild if he fits and meshes well with the rest of the locker room. It’s hard to think he wouldn’t mesh well or have an even better year with the Blackhawks then he did in Pittsburgh. His role will be elevated, and he’d likely see some power play time. I fully believe the Hawks should make him an offer.