The Nashville Predators have struck a late offseason trade with the New Jersey Devils. The Predators and general manager Chris MacFarland are trading forward Luke Evangelista to New Jersey in exchange for a 2028 first-round pick and a 2028 second-round pick.
The Predators who acquired center Mavrik Bourque from the Dallas Stars earlier in the offseason as they look to get younger, make a confusing trade. Evangelista played in the top six for the Predators in the last few seasons and could pot 15-20 goals a season easily.
But with it being super late in the offseason with the prospects challenge and training camp soon approaching, this trade does not make a lot of sense from the Predators standpoint. As for New Jersey, adding a forward like Evangelista after the Devils already added Anthony Mantha this offseason, is a huge win as of the current moment.
The Predators badly need to rebuild but adding Bourque now contradicts thatIt is no secret that the Nashville Predators are one of those teams that badly just needs to tear it down and start all over again. They have a lot of cap space tied into Ryan O’Reilly, Steven Stamkos, Filip Forsberg, and Juuse Saros.
And now that they traded one of the most competent forwards on the roster in Evangelista, it is becoming more and more evident that they need to start all over. But the Predators also traded a few draft picks for former Stars center Mavrik Bourque in the offseason as well before he was offer sheeted.
Bourque is a young center that can really put the puck in the back of the net and really take over on offense when the rest of the top six is underperforming. But with the Predators not fully tearing it down, it made no sense to acquire him.
With Evangelista trade, Nashville should entertain offers on anybody after new seasonWith MacFarland deciding to trade Evangelista now, the Predators need to choose the route of rebuilding. They have a mix of veterans and young players on the roster right now and have been stuck in mediocrity for a long time now.
The Predators have not been a consistent playoff team since 2017 when they lost in the Stanley Cup Final to the Pittsburgh Penguins. It is clear that they are not going to make the postseason this year and just need to rip the bandaid off.
The Evangelista trade seems like just the start of a rebuild that MacFarland is manufacturing. They need to entertain any offers they get on Stamkos and Forsberg and O’Reilly.The Predators badly need it and hope that MacFarland can get them through a rebuild and come out of it as contenders later in the future.
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