Evan Rodrigues’ time with the Pittsburgh Penguins was brief.
His time away from them was even shorter.
On Friday, the Penguins re-signed the versatile forward to a one-year contract with a salary cap hit of $700,000.
Initially acquired in a trade with the Buffalo Sabres on Feb. 24, Rodrigues (5-foot-11, 184 pounds) played in seven games for the Penguins before the NHL halted play March 12 because of the coronavirus pandemic. He scored one goal during that span.
When the NHL resumed operations in August for its postseason tournament, the right-handed Rodrigues, 27, was a healthy scratch for all four of the Penguins’ playoff games.
Following the Penguins’ underwhelming effort in the postseason, general manager Jim Rutherford made several changes to his lineup, the first of which was to re-acquire forward Kasperi Kapanen from the Toronto Maple Leafs via trade Aug. 25. The Penguins sent several assets to the Maple Leafs in the transaction, including Rodrigues who was on the verge of becoming a restricted free agent after completing a one-year contract with a salary cap hit of $2 million.
With salary cap space tight all around the league, the Maple Leafs opted not to extend a qualifying offer to Rodrigues to avoid a potentially high arbitration award and allowed him to become an unrestricted free agent.
Capable of playing all three forward positions, Rodrigues did just that during his brief run with the Penguins throughout February and March. His return will give the Penguins two right-handed forwards capable of taking faceoffs, including Sam Lafferty.
