The Nashville Predators are mere days away from opening training camp in preparation for the 2025-26 NHL season — and they still don't have forward Luke Evangelista locked up.
The team's final restricted free agent just played out the final year of his entry-level deal, managing 10 goals and 32 points in 68 games. Although The Fourth Period's David Pagnotta reported on Saturday that the two sides continue to talk, he noted that there is some “frustration” coming from the 23-year-old's camp.
“Earlier this week, I reported there’s a sizeable gap between the Nashville Predators and restricted free agent forward Luke Evangelista,” Pagnotta wrote. “The two sides have continued to talk, but I’m told there is frustration from the player’s end. This likely ends up in a bridge deal, but the main issue has been AAV.”
The hockey insider added to his reporting on Sunday, conforming that negotiations have not gone swimmingly “despite constant communication between the two parties over the last couple of weeks.”
League sources tell TFP that a short-term contract is expected as a resolution, although it doesn't seem like anything is coming down the pipes in the next couple of days barring a seismic shift.
The Predators' training camp opens in Tennessee on Wednesday, and if a new contract isn't agreed to in that under-48-hour timeframe, Evangelista isn't expected to attend despite already being present in Nashville.
Predators looking for a radical turnaround in 2025-26
Although Evangelista's offensive numbers don't exactly jump off the page, the Toronto, Ontario native is expected to be a key piece of the future of this team.
With multiple aging and potentially declining players on the roster — most notably Roman Josi (who is battling Postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome), Steven Stamkos, Jonathan Marchessault and Ryan O'Reilly — it's even more important that Nashville retains its young talent.
Evangelista is expected to play on the second line with Stamkos and Fedor Svechkov on opening night, per Daily Faceoff, and he'll also likely get work with the second powerplay group.
The former second-round selection in the 2020 NHL Draft has managed 86 points in 172 National Hockey League games, adding a goal in six games in the 2024 Stanley Cup Playoffs.
The Predators need to get Evangelista locked up, else it will be a player like Michael Bunting or Zachary L'Heureux battling for a spot in the top-six. Nashville does have just under $9.4 million in cap space to work with, per Puck Pedia.
Either way, this is a big season in Smashville as the team looks to prove that 2024-25's abysmal 30-44-8 showing was just a fluke. It'll be interesting to see if the team can snap out of the funk this year — and whether Evangelista's future will be secure by opening night on October 9.
