Devils acquire winger Luke Evangelista from Predators for two draft picks

The New Jersey Devils acquired winger Luke Evangelista from the Nashville Predators on Tuesday, sending a conditional 2028 first-round draft pick and their own 2028 second-round pick to Nashville in exchange for the 24-year-old forward, both teams announced. The deal is the first major trade of new Devils general manager Sunny Mehta's tenure and a clear signal that Nashville, under first-year GM Chris MacFarland, is beginning to reshape a roster still weighted toward aging veterans.

Evangelista, a right-handed shooting winger, is coming off a career year in which he recorded 12 goals and 44 assists for 56 points in 81 games for the Predators last season. Over parts of four NHL seasons he has 45 goals and 97 assists for 142 points in 253 regular-season games, along with one goal in six Stanley Cup playoff appearances. He is entering the second season of a two-year, $6 million contract that carries a $3 million salary-cap hit and will become a restricted free agent next summer.

The numbers behind the deal

Nashville receives two future draft assets rather than an established NHL player: a conditional first-round pick in 2028 that New Jersey originally obtained from the Calgary Flames in a June trade involving defenseman Simon Nemec, and New Jersey's own 2028 second-round selection. The condition attached to the first-rounder ties its eventual draft slot to whether Calgary's 2027 first-round pick, owed to Toronto, changes hands, and to where the 2028 pick lands relative to the top 10, according to TSN's report on the trade terms.

For New Jersey, the cost is steep by draft-pick standards but modest against the cap: Evangelista's $3 million hit fits comfortably into a Devils forward group that the league's official trade report notes was seeking secondary scoring on the wing after missing the playoffs a season ago.

How the Devils got here

New Jersey finished the 2025-26 season 42-37-3 for 87 points, seventh in the Metropolitan Division, and was eliminated from playoff contention in early April after a 5-1 loss to the Philadelphia Flyers — the club's second straight season without a postseason berth. The Devils' offense leaned heavily on center Jack Hughes and winger Jesper Bratt, while secondary scoring from the wings was inconsistent through injuries and lineup shuffling.

The front office that made Tuesday's trade looks different than the one that presided over that decline. Tom Fitzgerald was dismissed as general manager in April, and the Devils hired Sunny Mehta, a New Jersey native and former Florida Panthers assistant general manager, to replace him. Mehta has said he intends to build a roster around players who can "outscore, outchance, outplay" opponents regardless of a narrow positional profile, and Evangelista's acquisition is his first significant move at the trade table since taking over.

Nashville's motivation traces to its own front-office turnover. Longtime bench boss and general manager Barry Trotz announced in February that he intended to step back, and the Predators hired Chris MacFarland in June as president of hockey operations and general manager. MacFarland inherited a roster carrying significant money on veterans such as Filip Forsberg, Steven Stamkos, Jonathan Marchessault and goaltender Juuse Saros, alongside a wave of young right-shot wing prospects pushing for NHL jobs — a group that made Evangelista, himself a right-shot winger, expendable.

Who is affected, and the reaction

For Nashville, the trade opens a roster spot and clears a path for prospects such as Brady Martin and Egor Surin to compete for NHL minutes on the wing this fall, while adding draft capital the club can use to address other needs. For New Jersey, Evangelista is expected to slot into the Devils' middle-six forward group, adding a player who has shown he can produce alongside star-caliber centers — a role the team lacked reliable answers for last season. The move does not touch the Devils' core of Hughes, Bratt, Nico Hischier or Timo Meier, but it changes the competition for wing minutes heading into training camp.

"We felt with the depth of the winger market and the depth of our winger prospects, we feel we're very forward heavy," Predators general manager Chris MacFarland said of the decision to move a 24-year-old coming off a career season. "We think Luke is a good player, he's a proven player, but we're very happy with the return."

MacFarland was direct in Nashville's official announcement that the decision was not simple, saying of Evangelista, who had become a fan favorite since Nashville took him 42nd overall in the 2020 draft out of the Ontario Hockey League's London Knights: "This decision was not made lightly." He added that the return gives the Predators "a bullet in the holster" — flexibility to pursue further roster moves once the club has more clarity on where its rebuild is headed. Evangelista originally reached the NHL after signing his entry-level deal following a 111-point captain's season with London, and he re-signed with Nashville on his current contract less than a year before Tuesday's trade.

New Jersey has not made Mehta available for an extended interview on the trade, but the deal fits the stated organizational plan of adding proven, versatile scorers without depleting the NHL roster. Analysts covering the Devils framed the acquisition as a value play given Evangelista's age and cap hit relative to his production, noting that the underlying results from his time in Nashville compare favorably to established middle-six wingers who have commanded higher prices in trade.

What happens next

Evangelista is expected to report to the Devils organization ahead of training camp, which opens across the NHL in mid-September before the 2026-27 regular season begins in October. Because he is signed for one more season before restricted free agency, New Jersey will have a decision to make next summer on a contract extension, one Devils writers have already suggested the club should pursue early rather than let his value increase further. Nashville, meanwhile, now holds two additional high draft picks as it continues what MacFarland has described as a methodical rebuild around its remaining veteran core, with more subtractions possible before the season opens if the right offer materializes.