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New Jersey Devils Acquire Luke Evangelista Adding More Depth to the Roster

Jim Biringer
Jim Biringer
6 Min Read
The New Jersey Devils continue to reshape their roster under GM Sunny Mehta as he added Luke Evangelista and he may not be done.

The New Jersey Devils, under new General Manager Sunny Mehta, continue reworking and adding depth to the roster. As TheDevilsNation.com has documented, Mehta has come into New Jersey and used his analytical mind to put his fingerprints on the roster, adding players who will play a fast, attacking, relentless style of hockey that made the Devils successful in the 2022-23 season.

New Jersey Devils Watching Quinn Hughes Situation in Minnesota Closely

Mehta continued to do that on Tuesday night as the Devils announced they acquired forward Luke Evangelista from the Nashville Predators.

Given the draft capital the Devils acquired in the Simon Nemec trade with the Calgary Flames, GM Sunny Mehta had an asset to exchange for the 24-year-old Luke Evangelista on a reasonable contract. With the Devils adding another young player to their roster, New Jersey sent the Nashville Predators a conditional first-round and second-round pick in the 2028 NHL Draft.

Per the press releases by both the Devils and Predators, the conditions are as follows: “In the event that either a) Colorado’s 2027 first-round pick is not transferred to Toronto; or b) Colorado’s 2028 first-round pick falls within the top 10, Nashville shall instead receive Colorado’s 2029 first-round pick.”

Evangelista enters the final year of a two-year deal worth $6 million with a $3 million average annual value. He will be a restricted free agent at the end of this deal with arbitration rights. So that might have been a fight that Predators President of Hockey Operations and General Manager Chris MacFarland didn’t want to deal with.

New GM Sunny Mehta Leaving His Mark Already on the New Jersey Devils

MacFarland didn’t want to get into it with the media about contract talks just said the Predators had a good young players coming that need opportunities. One team’s loss is another team’s gain, and the Devils pick up a player with so much upside entering a contract year.

In four seasons with the Nashville Predators, Luke Evangelista has recorded 142 career points (45 goals and 97 assists) in 253 regular-season games. Last season with the Predators, Evangelista played in 81 games, tallying a career-high 56 points, including 12 goals and a career-high 44 assists.

This is a solid top-six player for the Devils. With the right situation, he can keep seeing his goals, assists, and point totals rise. Evangelista is a controllable asset in a contract year. 

The Case for the New Jersey Devils Getting Third in the Metro Division

As previously mentioned, GM Sunny Mehta continues to add depth to his roster with the likes of Evangelista, Evan Rodrigues, Jesper Boqvist, Anthony Mantha, Ben Steeves, Amadeus Lombardi, and Declan Chisholm. However, that means they have 14 forwards under contract with $1.85 million in projected cap space before Lomdardi, and Lenni Hameenaho are added to the roster. 

As GM Sunny Mehta has stated, the painting is never finished. As TheDevilsNation.com and NHLRumors.com have documented, a player like Dawson Mercer could be the odd man out if the Devils make a big move, say for a Quinn Hughes or a Connor Hellebuyck. Both players have been linked to New Jersey for obvious, but different, reasons.

The New Jersey Devils are not finished. They have plans to continue to reshape this roster and could land a big fish either before the season or during the season. The work is never complete and Sunny Mehta is always eyeing something.

 

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