Nashville Predators Rumors: Evangelista's Next Contract Looking Long-Term

Luke Evangelista is one of the seven RFAs without a contract for next season, but the Nashville Predators shouldn't be worried despite it being late August. The Predators are not in a great place and have lots of work ahead to fix the roster and direction of the team.

Last season was a disaster, but there are always some bright spots. While the core is older, there are still some players in their primes and someone like Evangelista who looks like he will be a big piece of the puzzle moving forward. Through 2+ seasons in the NHL so far, the 23-year-old has 33 goals and 86 points in 172 games.

His ice time has been limited and below where he should be and where he's going to get to soon, averaging under 14 minutes per game in his only two full NHL seasons. Evangelista declined a bit last season, scoring 10 goals and 32 points in 68 games, but it was tough to be successful on a team like Nashville where everything went wrong for the majority of the season.

Nashville brought in Jonathan Marchessault and Steven Stamkos last summer and it took away from Evangelista's opportunity, but the team isn't going to stay together through the veteran's full contracts, especially if something doesn't drastically change for the better next season.

Jeff Marek said, "The Nashville Predators probably...want something of a longer term deal." I can see the holdup in contract discussions being that Evangelista wants a shorter term deal where he has a chance to break out and prove himself, increasing the money he earns on his following contract by a lot. I don't think that means signing a deal that takes him to UFA status, but 1-2 years where he and the team have a chance to bounce back and improve again.

Evangelista doesn't play on the penalty kill and plays on the second power-play unit, so he will have to get regular shifts on the second line and produce. Michael Bunting will therefore have to slide to the third line, but overall, it's tough to see the Predators struggle as much as the team did last season in 2025-26. There is a lot of talent and there are opportunities for the younger players to step up too. Evangelista will get a contract done, but the AAV might have to be bumped up a bit if he is going to accept a longer term deal through some of his prime years.

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