The Devils have spent the offseason reshaping their forward group, and Evan Rodrigues arrives in New Jersey with a clear assignment: bring depth, minutes and some veteran steadiness to a team that can’t afford another stumble.
Rodrigues comes over from Florida after a 2025-26 season that was productive, if uneven. He appeared in 69 games, finished with 31 points, and split that total between 11 goals and 20 assists.
His year ended on March 26 when he broke his finger 49 seconds into a game against the Minnesota Wild, a brutal finish to a season that had already featured plenty of streaks. He’d string together a few games with points, then disappear offensively for long stretches before the cycle started again.
Even so, it was a respectable season overall.
New Jersey acquired Rodrigues on June 30 in a deal that sent Jesper Boqvist and Ben Steeves to Florida, while the Panthers got Jacob Markstrom and Angus Crookshank. It was one move in a broader effort by the Devils to strengthen the forward corps, alongside the additions of Anthony Mantha and Luke Evangelista ahead of 2026-27.
The fit in New Jersey looks different than the one Rodrigues had in Florida. He logged time in the Panthers’ top six, but he’s likely to land in the Devils’ bottom six.
That’s not a demotion so much as a new job description. He should be a useful presence for younger players like Arseny Gritsyuk, who is also expected to be part of that lower group.
Rodrigues averaged 17:00 of ice time last season, so the Devils can lean on him for meaningful shifts without asking him to carry a top-line load.
There’s also the contract angle. Rodrigues is in the final year of a four-year deal with a $3.075 million AAV and will be an unrestricted free agent at the end of the season at age 33.
That usually sharpens the focus. He’ll want a strong year in his first season with the Devils, and the pressure that comes with that is familiar territory for plenty of NHL veterans.
There are a few milestones within reach, too. If Rodrigues stays healthy and appears in all 84 games, his final game of the season would be his 700th NHL game.
He is also 30 points away from 300 for his career. He’s already cleared 100 goals and sits at 107, so 200 goals is not a realistic target this season.
But he is only 37 assists shy of 200, and that milestone could be there for the taking in 2026-27.
The projection here is straightforward: Rodrigues gets to 40 points or more. He reached that number once before, in 2021-22 with Pittsburgh, and then posted 39 points in each of the next two seasons.
With a fresh start and a role that should still give him chances to contribute, another 40-point season feels within reach. He should help the Devils in the bottom six as both a scorer and a veteran voice for the younger players around him.
In Other News...
Brad Marchand Is Already Stirring Drama Around The Brady Tkachuk Trade
With Brady Tkachuk now in Florida, the Ottawa Senators are sorting through what comes next at captain, and Brad Marchand is already finding a way to make himself part of the conversation. The Panthers forward popped up in social media comments tied to the leadership discussion, and the exchange quickly drew attention because it landed right on one of the most delicate subjects in Ottawa this spring.
Tim Stutzle addressed the remark by brushing it aside, saying he does not care and still respects Marchand as a player. Drake Batherson, who knows Marchand well as a teammate and neighbor, also weighed in by pointing to this sort of behavior as nothing new, which only added another layer to a storyline the Senators probably would have preferred to keep internal. [Read more 🡒]
Panthers Fans Just Got A Painful Reminder About Sergei Bobrovsky
Sergei Bobrovskys name is back in the spotlight for Panthers fans, and not in a way that makes the offseason sting any less. After Toronto signed the veteran goalie to a three-year contract, Aleksander Barkov spent some time at the NHL Player Media Tour reflecting on what Bobrovsky meant during their years together in Florida, offering a reminder of how much the goaltender shaped the Panthers rise.
Barkov praised Bobrovskys leadership, work ethic and the example he set in the room, noting the impact he had both on and off the ice. For a team that leaned on him through a long run together, those comments only reinforce how much Florida is losing in the rearview mirror, even if the full measure of that partnership is still the kind of thing Panthers fans will keep revisiting. [Read more 🡒]
Panthers May Have Found A Late Pick Worth Watching Closely
The Panthers may have landed a late-round forward worth keeping on the radar in Cole Zurawski, who was taken in the sixth round of the 2026 NHL Draft after a productive season with the Owen Sound Attack. He finished with 24 goals and 22 assists in 63 games, the kind of numbers that tend to draw more attention from a team willing to mine value outside the top of the draft.
Zurawski has already gotten a look at Florida's development camp, which gives the organization an early chance to see how his game translates beyond junior hockey. His path is still at the beginning stages, and with a future at Notre Dame already mapped out, the bigger question for the Panthers is how much more he can grow before the club has to start thinking seriously about where he fits in their pipeline. [Read more 🡒]