Luke Evangelista Comments On 'Shocking Trade' From Nashville
When you're 24 years old and coming off a career season, you feel rather comfortable heading into training camp, and kicking off a new year. Turns out the Nashville Predators had other ideas, as Luke Evangelista was completely blindsided the Preds gave up on him, and traded him to the New Jersey Devils.
Evangelista was asked recently his reaction to the move, and it's obvious it was a complete shock. “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.”
“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.”
Evangelista set career highs in assists and points last season, and at just $3 million AAV for this season, is a steal of a deal. He's a pending restricted free agent with team control, and for some reason, Predators GM Chris MacFarland felt a conditionally first-round pick and a second-rounder in 2028 were better value than having to pay Evangelista some big dollars next summer.
One thing about the Devils now, they have GM Sunny Mehta, who grew up a massive Devils fan and is living out his dream. He's also one of the smartest minds in hockey and a big reason behind the Florida Panthers winning back-to-back Stanley Cups. Evangelista is excited to see what Mehta can cook up in New Jersey.
“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.”
While Evangelista may be shocked about the trade, wait until he's teammates with Quinn Hughes...