Overview
- The trade was announced Tuesday night when the New Jersey Devils acquired winger Luke Evangelista from the Nashville Predators in exchange for a conditional 2028 first-round pick (originally Colorado’s) and New Jersey’s 2028 second-round pick.
- The Colorado first-rounder carries layered protections: if Colorado’s 2027 pick is not transferred to Toronto or Colorado’s 2028 pick lands in the top 10, Nashville will instead receive Colorado’s 2029 first-round pick.
- Evangelista is 24, coming off a career-best 56-point season and is on the final year of a two-year deal with a $3 million cap hit; he will be a restricted free agent after 2026-27 and is arbitration-eligible.
- Predators GM Chris MacFarland said the move was difficult but gives Nashville roster and salary-cap flexibility and a larger stock of draft choices to accelerate a retool, while Devils GM Sunny Mehta used the Nemec-acquired pick to add top-six wing play.
- The trade tightens New Jersey’s short-term cap space and creates forward depth that could prompt further moves, and it materially increases Nashville’s draft-day options, leaving both teams to adjust lineups before training camp and the Oct. 1 season opener.