Rodrigues was acquired from Buffalo last February and then his rights were flipped to Toronto in the Kasperi Kapanen deal this summer. Toronto did not tender the RFA, so he was free to re-join the Penguins on Friday. Rodrigues had six goals and four assists (10 points) in 45 NHL games last year and GM Jim Rutherford said on Friday that he'll be on the third line with Mark Jankowski and Jared McCann to start 2021.
Verhaeghe scored nine goals with four assists (13 points) in 52 games in his rookie season in the NHL in 2020. The 25-year-old is a former third-round pick (2015) and led the AHL in goals (34) and points (82) in 2018-19. He's shown offensive ability at lower-levels in the past, now it's a matter of getting opportunity in Florida to showcase he can do it at the NHL-level.
Kunin is a pending RFA, who is projected to sign a contract in the range of $3.25M AAV, which would be $850K savings from Nick Bonino's $4.1M AAV cap hit. Kunin is coming off of the best season of his young career, scoring 15 goals with 16 assists (31 points) in 63 games and has even more upside in Nashville, where he'll be surrounded by more top-end talent.
