The Toronto Maple Leafs were unable to sign both Brad Marchand and Sam Bennett before they hastily re-signed with the Florida Panthers, but they could potentially trade for another player from that Stanley Cup-winning team.
In his latest trade watch list, has linked the Maple Leafs with Panthers winger Evan Rodrigues as the current champions try to offload his contract to make room for those freshly signed forwards.
Currently, the Panthers are just one of three teams that are above the salary cap ceiling. The other two, the Vegas Golden Knights and the Montreal Canadiens, are going to use Long-Term Injured Reserve to be compliant with the salary cap – since Carey Price is basically retired and Alex Pietrangelo is questionable to play hockey again, as well. That leaves Florida as the one team that has to do something before the season starts.
It sure seems like Rodrigues is the odd-man out.
With a contract that comes with a $3-million AAV for two more years for a player they can most likely replace somewhat adequately internally – since he did average just over 15 minutes a night for the past two seasons – it makes sense for Florida to pull that trigger. It might be more about shedding the contract than whatever they get in return for the player.
Rodrigues has averaged 16.2 goals and 40.1 points per 82 games in the last four seasons. A perfectly reasonable total for a middle-six winger getting paid not an abhorrent amount of money on the cap.
Which is why it might make almost too much sense for the Panthers and Leafs to do a one-for-one swap of some wingers. Could it all line up so perfectly that Toronto sends currently un-signed restricted free agent winger Nick Robertson to the Panthers for Rodrigues in return?
The Panthers would be getting a younger player that fits their mold of a cast-off with much more potential almost too perfectly. And the Maple Leafs get more of a proven player to be a steady offensive provider in their middle six. Rodrigues could easily be seen next to John Tavares as a supplementary scorer, or next to Nic Roy as the main offensive player on a third line.
It’s undetermined if the Leafs are going to face a lot of competition for Rodrigues’s services, but it could be a great final move to really make sure this team has the scoring depth it needs heading into next season.