Luke Evangelista trade a confusing one for Predators

Eyebrows were raised around the NHL on Tuesday night as the New Jersey Devils acquired forward Luke Evangelista from the Nashville Predators in exchange for a conditional 2028 first-round pick and a 2028 second-round pick.

Evangelista, 24, is coming off a 2025-26 campaign where he reached career highs with 12 goals and 44 assists for 56 points in 81 regular-season games. He has one year remaining on a two-year deal that pays him $3 million per season.

On Wednesday’s episode of Daily Faceoff LIVE, Tyler Yaremchuk and former NHL goaltender Carter Hutton discuss the trade and why the Predators were willing to part with a talented young player like Evangelista.

Tyler Yaremchuk: This is, honestly, kind of puzzling. When you look at the Predators, they had $9.6 million in cap space, and Evangelista was already signed for next season. He’s 24 years old, and yeah, they got a couple of draft picks for him … but I just don’t know why a team in the spot that Nashville is in is quick to offload a good, young player like this.

Carter Hutton: I think that’s my question mark, too. When we look at this team and broke them down years ago when they made all these big free agency moves and it didn’t work, we thought they had to start a rebuild and get younger. And this is a younger right winger who produces points. He’s going to continue to create, and now you’ve moved him out for draft picks.

I understand you’ve stockpiled some picks, and Nashville now has seven in the first two rounds over the next two drafts. That’s great, but having a nice 24-year-old who can grow into his own, and his contract is money-controlled, and he’s in a good situation … it’s an odd one for me.

You can watch the full segment and the rest of the episode here…