Luke Evangelista calls trade to Devils ‘a shock’
When the news broke on Tuesday that the New Jersey Devils had acquired forward Luke Evangelista from the Nashville Predators in exchange for a conditional first-round pick and a second-round pick in the 2028 NHL Entry Draft, the hockey world collectively reacted with surprise. Perhaps nobody was more caught off guard, however, than Evangelista himself.
“I honestly was pretty surprised,” Evangelista told the New Jersey media during a Zoom call on Thursday. “I was all packed up, and I was actually headed to Nashville (Wednesday) morning. And then my agent kind of gave me like maybe an hour, hour and a half heads up, that something might be going down and to stay by the phone. It was pretty much a shock. I thought I was going back to Nashville. I didn’t quite see it coming.”
It was reasonable of the Toronto native to not foresee a trade. After all, most teams, especially veteran clubs like Nashville, aren’t too keen on dealing a 24-year-old forward coming off a 56-point season. For the Devils, though, it certainly makes sense to add a young, offensively inclined winger to play alongside the likes of Jack Hughes or Nico Hischier in their top six.
Evangelista spoke about how New Jersey general manager Sunny Mehta sees him fitting in with the Devils.
“Sunny and I had a really good chat that night after I got traded,” Evangelista said. “He just kind of talked about his philosophy and starting in Florida, and now kind of what he was looking for now. He just kind of alluded to looking for some kind of under-the-radar pickups in a sense that they used to do in Florida. He said I kind of fit that mold. So it was a great talk with him. And it feels really good to be wanted, obviously.”
Now that New Jersey has acquired Evangelista, the matter of a contract extension is next on the docket, so to speak. Evangelista is scheduled to become a restricted free agent after this upcoming season.
For his part, Evangelista says he is only focused on what he does on the ice.
“I’m not too concerned about it, honestly,” Evangelista said. “I feel like my job is to just kind of focus on the play. When all that stuff gets sorted out, it’s, you know, it’s kind of out of my hands.”
