Penguins Could Make Bold Move for Panthers Forward on Trade Market

The Florida Panthers went out of their way this offseason to retain their Stanley Cup-winning nucleus with re-signings of Sam Bennett, Brad Marchand, and Aaron Ekblad. But it's been done with a corresponding cost.

The club is now $3.725 million over the salary cap. It's fine for clubs to be up to 10% over the cap level in offseasons, but they have to be in cap alignment by the October 7, 2025 opener.

One name that's getting thrown around as a potential cap casualty is forward Evan Rodrigues.

The 32-year-old has been a solid contributor to Florida's consecutive championships with 15 points in 21 playoff games this season and 15 in 24 last season.

A skilled middle-sixer, Evan Rodrigues uses good two-way minutes with good peripheral scoring and has a decent $3 million cap hit up to 2026.

But that $3 million might be what the Panthers must relocate in trade moves for them to free up cap room. Wednesday, Dan Rosen of NHL.com wrote that trade discussions with Rodrigues indeed continue to occur.

One way that Rodrigues might be allowed to stay here for now is if Matthew Tkachuk starts the season on LTIR, removing his $9.5 million cap hit for a short period.

But when Tkachuk returns, a space-clearing move for Florida again pushes Rodrigues out.

And then there's Pittsburgh, too, which may look to acquire a cheap, proven depth player up front with previous team experience, as Rodrigues played for Pittsburgh for stretches of a three-year span between 2019 and 2022.

They also have cap space to make it happen and would be willing to trade a mid-round pick or mid-prospect to Florida in order to assist with cap relief. If traded, Rodrigues' future could be a return to black and gold.