- Devils acquire Luke Evangelista from Nashville for two 2028 draft picks
- The conditional first-rounder is Colorado’s, which New Jersey picked up from Calgary in June
- Read below for the quote that makes this trade look very different a year later
The Devils landed a 56-point winger Tuesday night without giving up a single pick of their own.
New Jersey acquired Luke Evangelista from the Predators in exchange for a conditional 2028 first-round pick and a 2028 second-round pick. Both clubs confirmed the deal within minutes of each other.
That first-rounder belongs to Colorado. New Jersey collected it from Calgary in the June deal that sent Simon Nemec and Maxim Tsyplakov to the Flames, and it comes with top-10 protection. If Colorado’s 2027 first is not transferred to Toronto, or if the 2028 first lands inside the top 10, Nashville gets Colorado’s 2029 first instead.
So Sunny Mehta turned an asset from his first big trade as Devils general manager into a top-six forward in his second. The 2028 second is New Jersey’s own.
Evangelista is 24 and coming off a career year. He put up 56 points on 12 goals and 44 assists in 81 games, and he sits at 142 points in 253 career games since Nashville took him 42nd overall in 2020.
Money is not an issue either. He is entering year two of a two-year, $6 million contract at a $3 million cap hit, and he becomes a restricted free agent next summer.
Here is every point he put up during that 56-point season:
A year ago Nashville was insisting none of this would happen. Evangelista skipped the first day of training camp in September 2025 while the two sides argued over term, and then-general manager Barry Trotz was asked whether a trade was on the table.
“Not even a thought,” Trotz said, per Jack Williams of The Hockey News. Trotz had called Evangelista the future of the franchise. The winger signed on Oct. 4 and then delivered the best season of his career.
The people making the calls are different now. Chris MacFarland took over as president of hockey operations and GM in June, with Trotz sliding into an advisory role. MacFarland spent the previous four years running Colorado, and the first-round pick he just brought back to Nashville is Colorado’s.
Training camps open in a little over two weeks. New Jersey gets a 24-year-old playmaker for its top six at $3 million. Nashville gets two swings in 2028.
