Devils Trade Two 2028 Draft Picks To Predators For Luke Evangelista

The New Jersey Devils acquired forward Luke Evangelista from the Nashville Predators on Tuesday, sending a conditional 2028 first-round pick and their own 2028 second-round pick to Nashville in return.

Evangelista, 24, is coming off a career year, posting 12 goals and 44 assists for 56 points in 81 games last season. He is entering the final season of a two-year, $6 million contract that carries a $3 million cap hit and can become a restricted free agent next summer.

The move is the latest by first-year Devils GM Sunny Mehta, who took over in mid-April after serving as an assistant GM in Florida. New Jersey averaged 2.76 goals per game last season, sixth-fewest in the league, and finished 12 points out of the second and final Eastern Conference wild-card spot. Mehta has already reshaped the forward group this offseason, trading goaltender Jacob Markstrom to the Panthers in June in a package that brought back Evan Rodrigues and signing winger Anthony Mantha, who scored 33 goals and 64 points last season for Pittsburgh.

Evangelista now joins a wing group that includes Jesper Bratt, Connor Brown, Timo Meier, Dawson Mercer, Mantha and Rodrigues.

For Nashville, it's the latest decision from Chris MacFarland, who took over as GM and team president in early June after previously running the Colorado Avalanche. MacFarland said the trade gives the Predators "flexibility from a roster and salary cap standpoint" and creates room for young wingers in the organization to compete for jobs. The deal gives Nashville seven picks in the first two rounds over the next two drafts, part of a broader push under MacFarland to stockpile draft capital while also adding players with Central Division experience such as Mavrik Bourque, Ross Colton and Jack Drury.

The first-round pick attached to the trade is conditional, coming to Nashville via Colorado, with terms tied to where that Avalanche pick lands and whether it's transferred elsewhere.