The Colorado Avalanche continue to lose some of their bigger players to other teams in free agency since it officially opened up on Saturday. One of the better-known players on last year’s team has gone south. Evan Rodrigues has signed with the Florida Panthers. His short stint with the Avalanche has come to an end.
The Panthers have signed Evan Rodrigues to a 4-year deal worth $3 million annually.
It was an expected outcome as the Avalanche had signed several other players instead of putting that money toward a single player such as Rodrigues. It’s just part of the business. I would have loved for Rodrigues to have stayed in Colorado, but I get it. I’m not sure where the Avalanche were in terms of wanting him back, but it became obvious that his departure was a real possibility.
Rodrigues has had the best years of his career over the past two seasons. Prior to his one year with the Colorado Avalanche, where he had 16 goals and 23 assists in 69 games, he played in all 82 games the year before with the Pittsburgh Penguins, recording 19 goals and 24 assists. Very similar numbers.
Last season, Rodrigues recorded his second-best season in terms of faceoff percentage with 49.38 percent. He had goals in back-to-back games just twice last year, which isn’t spectacular, but he wasn’t asked to try and be a MacKinnon-type player.
At the end of the day, it appears the Avalanche might be in somewhat of a rebuild mode. That is something that typically happens after a championship victory. After the disappointing 2022-23 season, in which the team got knocked out in the first round of the playoffs, the Colorado Avalanche are going to have to figure out what their identity is going forward and their recent moves in free agency/trade acquisitions hint that they have somewhat of an idea.