The Toronto Maple Leafs were involved in a blockbuster trade on Tuesday with the Pittsburgh Penguins, and in the process, they acquired centre Evan Rodrigues of Toronto, Ontario according to Pro Hockey Rumors. Rodrigures was traded with prospect centre Filip Hallander of Sundsvall, Sweden, prospect defenseman David Warsofsky of Marshfield, Massachusetts, and the first-round pick in the 2020 National Hockey League Draft (15th overall) for winger Pontus Aberg of Stockholm, Sweden, right winger Kasperi Kapanen of Kuopio, Finland and defenseman prospect Jesper Lindgren of Umea, Sweden.
Rodrigues now joins his third National Hockey League franchise. In addition to the Penguins, Rodrigues played five seasons with the Buffalo Sabres. In 2019-20, Rodrigues had six goals and four assists for 10 points in 45 games with the Sabres and Penguins. He was a -8, with 14 penalty minutes, one power play point, one game winning goal, 75 shots on goal, 121 faceoff wins, 15 blocked shots, 24 hits, 14 takeaways, and 13 giveaways.
In 2019-20, Rodrigues had his most notable game on January 12, in a 5-1 Sabres win over the Detroit Red Wings. He scored the first two goals of the hockey game, both coming in the first five minutes. Rodrigues’s second goal was on the power play and was the game winning goal.
The biggest name in the trade is Kapanen. With the Maple Leafs having an abundance of forwards, it is not surprising that Kapanen became expendable. The former first round draft pick from the 2014 NHL Entry Draft, Kapanen had 13 goals and 23 assists for 36 points in 69 games in 2019-20. Aberg also has NHL experience. Last season, he had one assist in five games with Toronto.
