When a glaring roster vacancy leaves the Penguins’ coaching staff searching for answers, the discussion often gravitates toward one player: Evan Rodrigues.
“If we need a power-play guy? Well, E Rod can do that,” coach Mike Sullivan said. “If we need need someone to play center? E Rod can do that. If we need someone to help us on the penalty kill? Well, we know E Rod can do that.”
Right now, injuries and illnesses have ravaged the center-ice position. Not only are Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin still recovering from offseason surgeries, but now Jeff Carter is also sidelined after testing positive for COVID-19.
Who will fill the need as a top-line center? Well, E Rod can do that.
“He’s kind of been our Swiss Army knife,” Sullivan said. “He’s just a real versatile player. That’s one of the values that he brings to our team.”
On Saturday night, the short-handed Penguins were missing five of their very best players, including Crosby (wrist), Malkin (knee), Carter (COVID), Kris Letang (COVID protocol) and Bryan Rust (lower-body). Yet, thanks to Rodrigues’ power-play goal (another area the Swiss Army knife has contributed) and a primary assist, Pittsburgh rocked the Maple Leafs, 7-1.
Given the amount of star power the Maple Leafs had on the ice — and conversely the amount missing from the Penguins’ lineup — the result was about as unlikely as the idea of Rodrigues centering a top line would have been just a few years back.
Back in Buffalo ahead of the 2019-20 season, Rodrigues won an arbitration case with the promise he’d play the role of the third-line center. Instead, he could hardly get a jersey on game night. The 5-11, 184-pound forward fell out of favor with then-coach Ralph Krueger. Relegated to the press box often as a healthy scratch, Rodrigues reportedly requested a trade.
“I had one year, I just didn’t get the minutes from the get-go,” Rodrigues said on Saturday night. “It’s always hard to get into a rhythm when you’re in and out of the lineup and you’re kind of one mistake away from being out of the lineup again.”
When the Penguins acquired Conor Sheary at the 2020 trade deadline with the hope of recreating the so-called “Sid and the Kids” line, Rodrigues felt like something of a throw in. While former GM Jim Rutherford was intrigued by the idea that Rodrigues once played alongside elite forwards like Jack Eichel earlier in his career, the club wasn’t exactly sure where its new puzzle piece fit in a crowded forward corp. Rodrigues appeared in just seven regular-season games as a Penguin, and, in the postseason bubble, he was a healthy scratch.
During the offseason ahead of the 2020-21 year, Rutherford traded Rodrigues to Toronto as a part of the Kasperi Kapanen deal. But when the Maple Leafs chose not to extend a qualifying offer to Rodrigues as a restricted free agent, he boomeranged back to Pittsburgh on a prove-it, one-year, $700,000 deal.
In total, he appeared in 35 of the 56 games, tallying seven goals and dishing seven assists while playing up-and-down the lineup. Still, his usage was mixed. At times, he skated on Sidney Crosby’s wing when Kapanen was still working through his visa issues. But in the final postseason games, after Malkin returned from injury and Carter was acquired to bolster the forward depth, Rodrigues once again found himself in the press box as a healthy scratch.
“When he’s been given opportunity in situations through injuries or [illnesses] and we’ve moved him up the lineup, he’s responded really well with solid play,” Sullivan said. “He played a significant number of top-six minutes last year. We thought he did an admirable job.”
Rodrigues’ versatility was a significant motivating factor that led the Penguins to once again re-up Rodrigues this offseason on another one-year, $1 million deal. Coming into this year, Rodrigues edged out others, including Radim Zohorna and Brian Boyle, to earn an opportunity as the pseudo second-line center, skating between Jason Zucker and Kapanen.
Recently, Rodrigues has taken another step up the depth chart. On Saturday, he centered the top line, skating between Jake Guentzel and Kapanen.
“The thing that I love about [Rodrigues] is when we play him in the top-six, he has a quiet confidence about him,” Sullivan said. “When you play up the lineup like that, there’s an expectation and there’s pressure to perform, and there’s pressure to produce. E Rod, he’s not afraid of that. As a matter of fact, it’s just the opposite. He gets excited about it.”
Rodrigues has certainly taken full advantage of the extra minutes and more prominent positions. Through five games, he has been one of the Penguins’ best forwards in several statistical categories.
His three goals are tied for the team lead. His five points? Also a team lead.
Meanwhile, Rodrigues’ possession stats are even more complementary. The Penguins have recorded nearly 70% of the expected goals when Rodrigues is on the ice at 5-on-5, according to Natural Stat Trick. That’s the best metric of any Penguins’ forward who has appeared in all five games. The Penguins have also created 67% of the high-danger chances with Rodrigues on the ice at 5-on-5. Only Jason Zucker has better numbers among regular Penguins forwards.
“It’s nice having trust from your coach,” Rodrigues said. “When your coach trusts you and believes in you, it gives you extra confidence.
“Since I’ve been traded, I’ve had the chance to play and get regular minutes. I think I got back to the game that made me successful and got me to be an NHL player. I’m just trying to take advantage of every opportunity that I get, go out and win some hockey games.”
Mike DeFabo: mdefabo@post-gazette.com and Twitter @MIkeDeFabo.
First Published: October 24, 2021, 4:42 p.m.
