Evan Rodrigues miles apart on new contract after breakout season.

It appears that the Buffalo Sabres have quite a dispute on their hands, one that their fan base is heavily invested in. 

As fans of the Buffalo Sabres will already know the organization has been unable to come to terms on a new deal with 25 year old undrafted winger Evan Rodrigues, a young man who has defied expectations. Rodrigues burst onto the scene during the 2019 - 2020 National Hockey League regular season with his first real taste of regular NHL action, and he seized the opportunity.

After having previously played 80 games split over the course of 3 different season, all of which were marked by trips down to the American Hockey League with the Rochester Americans, Rodrigues played in his first full NHL season this past year when he appeared in 74 games for the Buffalo Sabres. Over that stretch of play the young winger would collect 9 goals and 20 assists for a total of 29 points on the season. 

Rodrigues' style of play has made him a local favorite in Buffalo and fans there have now taken to affectionately calling him by the nickname of "E-Rod" obviously a play on the nickname of infamous New York Yankees player Alex "A-Rod" Rodrigues. Of course the love of fans is not what gets you paid but there's no doubt that E-Rod has more value in terms of a marketing asset than you would expect from your typical undrafted 25 year old forward. 

Although the two sides are head to arbitration it sounds like this one could be a bitter dispute with both sides seemingly very far apart in negotiations. According to a recent report from Sportsnet's National Hockey League insider Elliotte Friedman it appears that the two sides are more than a million dollars apart in terms of where they see the average annual value of Rodrigues next contract. The Sabres would like to get Rodrigues signed for a low ball offer of $1.5 million oer season, but that clearly will not get it done. As for Rodrigues and his camp they are seeking $2.65 million per season which may be a little bit on the high end of things for a player that has only one full season under his belt.