The terms of Rodrigues' contract were based on an independent arbitrator's ruling following the forward's salary arbitration hearing Tuesday.
Rodrigues, 25, enjoyed his best NHL season in 2018-19, recording career highs with nine goals and 29 points over 74 games. The 5-foot-10 winger has tallied 21 goals and 62 points in 154 contests since signing with Buffalo out of Boston University in 2015.
The Sabres now have a projected $3.1 million in available cap space, with restricted free agents Linus Ullmark and Jake McCabe in need of new contracts, according to CapFriendly.
Schmaltz, 25, recorded two assists in 20 regular-season contests with the Blues last season. He contributed nine points in 36 games at the AHL level with the San Antonio Rampage.
The 24-year-old Borgman made 45 appearances with the AHL's Toronto Marlies, tallying four goals and 17 points. The 6-foot rearguard has 48 games of NHL experience, recording three goals and 11 points with the Maple Leafs during the 2017-18 season.
Nearly every general manager in the NHL has a contract they'd like to get rid of.
Not including LTIR-eligible players or players signed this summer, here are the current 10 worst deals in the league based on cap hit, term, and expected value over the duration of the contract:
10. Jonathan Quick
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Team: Kings Age: 33 Cap hit: $5.8M Years left: 4 Signing GM: Dean Lombardi
The 10-year deal Quick signed in 2012 was 100 percent worth it for the Kings. He was coming off his best season and ended up winning a second Stanley Cup two years after.
However, Quick not only just had the worst campaign of his career, but it was a year in which he was one of the worst goalies in the league.
Quick posted an .888 save percentage in 46 games, and while it may seem easy to blame a poor team in front of him, fellow netminders Jack Campbell (.928 in 31 games) and Calvin Petersen (.924 in 11 games) had no issues. As a 33-year-old with lots of mileage who relied on outstanding athleticism, Quick's days as a No. 1 goalie appear to be behind him, but he's being paid as such for four more years.
9. Johnny Boychuk
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Team: Islanders Age: 35 Cap hit: $6M Years left: 3 Signing GM: Garth Snow
Boychuk's first season with the Islanders in 2014-15 was stellar, but he's fallen off a cliff since then. He doesn't drive play offensively anymore, and last season, he was the worst Isles blue-liner at preventing shot attempts and expected goals. He's a third-pairing defenseman at best right now, and it's only going to get worse from here.
8. Bobby Ryan
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Team: Senators Age: 32 Cap hit: $7.25M Years left: 3 Signing GM: Bryan Murray
Ryan's contract isn't an issue for the Sens, who need it to get the cap floor, but it'd be a major problem for just about any other team. He can still put up 40 points, so he isn't totally useless, but he's a disaster defensively. He had so much promise with the Anaheim Ducks but has never lived up to the hype in Ottawa.
7. Justin Abdelkader
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Team: Red Wings Age: 32 Cap hit: $4.25M Years left: 4 Signing GM: Ken Holland
Abdelkader parlayed his first good offensive season - at 27 years old - into a seven-year deal the following year. Good for him, but what was Ken Holland thinking? He hasn't come close to replicating his 20-goal form and has resorted back to being a fourth-line-caliber player, which he was the first five seasons of his career before the breakout campaign.
6. Karl Alzner
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Team: Canadiens Age: 30 Cap hit: $4.625M Years left: 3 Signing GM: Marc Bergevin
Woof. Alzner was a turnover machine in his first season with the Habs in 2017-18, tallying a career-high 90 giveaways. He was so bad last year he ended up playing more games in the AHL (34) than in the NHL (9). The former fifth overall pick is a seventh defenseman at best but is paid like a top four.
5. Loui Eriksson
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Team: Canucks Age: 34 Cap hit: $6M Years left: 3 Signing GM: Jim Benning
Eriksson begins the run of regrettable signings inked on July 1, 2016 - the day GMs went mad. Benning likely imagined Eriksson would slot in alongside fellow Swedes Henrik and Daniel Sedin and enjoy success - as several other wingers had. It did not pan out.
Eriksson has barely scored more goals in three years with the Canucks (32) than he did in his final season with the Boston Bruins (30). Vancouver is tight against the cap, so it wouldn't be surprising if the club buried Eriksson's contract in the minors. He's basically a fourth-liner at this point.
4. Kyle Okposo
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Team: Sabres Age: 31 Cap hit: $6M Years left: 4 Signing GM: Tim Murray
Of the four July 1, 2016 deals to crack the list, Okposo's seemed like it came with the least amount of risk. However, his points per game have been declining every year since 2013-14, and it took a sizable dip last season, as he registered just 29 points in 78 games. The problem with Okposo is that he hasn't been able to produce enough to play a top-six role, but his game doesn't translate well in the bottom six without skilled players around him.
3. Andrew Ladd
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Team: Islanders Age: 33 Cap hit: $5.5M Years left: 4 Signing GM: Garth Snow
If you're ever wondering why Snow is no longer an NHL GM, this article should provide some clarity. He's the only executive to have multiple signings on this list.
Ladd was already on the decline when Snow signed him to a seven-year deal in 2016, and his physical style of play never projected well into his mid-30s. The drop-off in production has come much sooner than expected. In an injury-riddled 2018-19 campaign, the former Winnipeg Jets captain netted just three goals and eight assists in 26 games.
2. Milan Lucic
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Team: Flames Age: 31 Cap hit: $6M ($5.25M after retention) Years left: 4 Signing GM: Peter Chiarelli
The worst of the worst during the infamous 2016 free-agent frenzy, Lucic's steep drop-off was rather easy to predict - for everyone except Peter Chiarelli. Once one of the game's premier power forwards, Lucic's skating ability was never his strong suit, and when he lost that extra half step, the 31-year-old could no longer keep up. Lucic also seemed to lose his soft hands around the net, as he has just seven goals over his last 125 games.
He still brings some intangibles, and his possession metrics have remained positive, but he's arguably the most overpaid fourth-liner in the NHL, and it's only going to get worse from here.
1. Brent Seabrook
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Team: Blackhawks Age: 34 Cap hit: $6.875M Years left: 5 Signing GM: Stan Bowman
Bowman is one of three GMs on this list still employed by the same team. It's amazing the cushion three Stanley Cups provide.
Seabrook was still in his prime at the time of his eight-year, $55-million extension, but he's gotten drastically worse over the last three seasons, hitting rock bottom in 2018-19. Among defensemen who played at least 500 minutes at five-on-five last year, Seabrook was on the ice for the most scoring chances against, the second-most high-danger scoring chances against, and the third-most expected goals against on a per 60-minute basis. This, all while providing little offense.
The former Olympian is already a bottom-pairing blue-liner at best. Three Stanley Cups softens the blow a bit for Blackhawks fans, but forecasting Seabrook's play over the next five years is not a pretty sight.
"There was no chance I'd sign an extension with (them)," the Florida Panthers goaltender told Russian outlet Sport24's Daria Tuboltseva, as translated by Sport-Express' Igor Eronko. "I felt I need (a change of) scenery. And it's not just because of tensions with the Jackets."
Bobrovsky signed a seven-year contract with the Panthers on July 1 following a season with Columbus in which he wasn't named the team's starter on opening night and was forced by the club to sit out a game after being pulled in January.
"I was suspended by the team, there were some conflicts in the team, a lot of meetings and some of them just because of me," Bobrovsky told Tuboltseva on Wednesday, according to Eronko. "I didn't feel myself comfortable. And still, the Jackets tried and tried to extend me all season long."
The two-time Vezina Trophy winner added that the team offered him a psychologist, which he described as "weird" because he's been going to one since he was 21.
Bobrovsky spent the last seven campaigns with the Blue Jackets after playing his first two NHL seasons with the Philadelphia Flyers.
The netminder, who'll turn 31 in September, signed with Florida as an unrestricted free agent for a reported $70 million.
Phil Kessel has always been considered a rather unique individual, and a glimpse into the home he's put up for sale certainly validates that notion.
Now that he's a member of the Arizona Coyotes, the veteran forward's suburban Pittsburgh home has officially been listed, and the pictures include this head-scratching photo of his TV room:
The obvious question here: Was the home theater merely staged this way for the listing, or are we to believe Kessel actually watches TV and movies like this?
If this is indeed how the two-time Stanley Cup winner enjoys himself, it's really kind of admirable.
The ad contains 25 photos of Kessel's three-acre property, which features five beds, seven-and-a-half bathrooms, and a large wine cellar.
The Calgary Flames have signed forward Sam Bennett to a two-year contract with an average annual value of $2.55 million, the club announced Wednesday.
Bennett was a restricted free agent and had a salary arbitration hearing scheduled for July 27. He gets a slight raise on his previous pact, which carried a $1.95-million annual cap hit, according to CapFriendly. Bennett signed that two-year agreement in September 2017.
The 23-year-old produced 13 goals and 27 points in 71 regular-season games with the Flames this past season, adding five points in five playoff contests.
Selected fourth overall by the Flames in 2014, Bennett has spent his entire five-year career with Calgary. He appeared in a single regular-season game and 11 playoff contests during his rookie campaign in 2014-15.
An arbitrator determined the terms of the contract Tuesday after Copp filed for the third-party hearing earlier this summer.
The Jets were looking to sign the restricted free agent for two years at $1.5 million annually, while Copp was seeking a one-year contract worth $2.9 million, Sportsnet's Elliotte Friedman reported last week.
Copp will still be an RFA when this contract expires.
The 25-year-old has been a solid middle-six player for the Jets over the past few seasons. He registered a career-high 11 goals and added 14 assists in 69 games in 2018-19.
Winnipeg still has a pair of RFA contracts to sort out this offseason, as forwards Patrik Laine and Kyle Connor are in need of new deals. The Jets have roughly $17 million in available cap space, according to CapFriendly.
