The Pittsburgh Penguins have acquired Evan Rodrigues and old friend Conor Sheary from the Buffalo Sabres for forward Dominik Kahun.
The Pittsburgh Penguins were on a mission to improve their forward depth. It took two deals in order to do so. In the final hour of today’s trade deadline, the Penguins acquired forwards Conor Sheary and Evan Rodrigues from the Buffalo Sabres in exchange for Dominik Kahun.
While it was reported and known that the Penguins had an interest in Conor Sheary, I was a bit surprised to see Dominik Kahun as part of this deal. Kahun had sustained two injuries over the last month, so perhaps that became a red flag for the Penguins. He is only 24 years old and a pending RFA, so perhaps the Penguins had concerns about the price of a possible contract extension this summer.
Sheary is a familiar face and one that Penguins fans have fond memories of.
https://twitter.com/penguins/status/1232041171830157312
As I wrote over the weekend, Sheary has always been a solid player. I was not a proponent of trading him back in the summer of 2018. Micah Blake McCurdy of Hockey Viz feels that Sheary is the best player in this deal.
Sheary is the best player in the deal, though, despite that, and I think all up it's a fair bit stronger for Pittsburgh than for Buffalo. pic.twitter.com/OTfid2UgRC
— Micah Blake McCurdy (@IneffectiveMath) February 24, 2020
Sheary and Jack Eichel have produced the same primary assist rate (0.48) per hour during even-strength play this season. While Sheary does have Eichel’s playmaking ability, that is an indication of how good of a season he is having despite playing primarily in the Sabres bottom six.
Evan Rodrigues appears to be a faster version of Zach Aston-Reese. Both are very good defensive forwards who struggle to score. Rodrigues has helped Buffalo suppress shots and control territory at an above-average rate this season. Rodrigues can play Center and will also provide depth down the middle of the ice if Nick Bjugstad gets injured again this spring.
From an offensive standpoint, Rodrigues is having a down year. Per Natural Stat Trick, he ranked ninth amongst Sabres forwards in even-strength goals per hour (0.48) and last in points per hour (1.11).
His even-strength shooting percentage has regressed in each of the last three seasons, so I will be curious to see if that trend continues or if we’ll see a spike in Rodrigues’ tangible production. My bet is on the latter.
Here is a look at 2 of Rodrigues’ 5 goals on the season. It is noteworthy that his ice time dropped this season and Rodrigues requested a trade in the early portions of the season. A change of scenery has worked for forwards in Pittsburgh (Jared McCann as the most recent). Hopefully, Rodrigues will follow suit in that regard.
The PensBlog raised a solid point by mentioning both Sheary and Rodrigues are really solid from a defensive standpoint. Both suppress shots better than Kahun has this season.
Both players were positive relative to their teammates in terms of helping the Sabres control the shot share. That is important to note, as the Penguins are getting better at both ends of the rink with this trade. Prior to losing Brian Dumoulin and John Marino, the Penguins were amongst the best shot suppression teams in the NHL.
All in all, this was a successful deadline day for the Penguins. They did not sign or trade for players who would not fit this system. There was no Erik Gudbranson esque acquisition this year, and that is good. Pittsburgh improved their forward depth, and can hopefully roll four lines of NHL forwards for the remainder of the season. Thanks for reading!