At the beginning of September, Sunny Mehta and the New Jersey Devils made a surprise trade and acquired young up-and-coming star Luke Evangelista from the Nashville Predators. In the trade, New Jersey offloaded two 2028 picks — Colorado’s conditional first-rounder and their own second-round selection.
Evangelista has one year left on a contract that pays him $3 million annually, leaving many wondering whether or not the Devils intend on inking him (or at least trying) to a long-term deal. The good news is that, for now, they are eligible to hand him an eight-year contract.
The bad news is that they will only be able to do so for another day and change.
The new NHL Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) kicks in on Wednesday, September 16. The new CBA dictates that there is a maximum of seven years able to be given to players whose rights are owned by a particular team, with free agents earning a maximum of six years. With that in mind, and especially given the likelihood of the salary cap continuing to explode upwards, it would be prudent for the Devils’ front office to act quickly.
Capitalizing on young talent prior to true breakouts is the singular way to get players on reasonable cap hits at their peak. Jack Hughes. Jesper Bratt. Anyone in a Canadiens uniform. There’s a reason these players typically headline the “Best Contract in the NHL” lists.
Evangelista may have scored a career-high 56 points in 2025-26, but there is ample reason to believe that there is far more in the tank from a production standpoint. The fact is, his underlying profile is superb, a signal that he’s already a bona fide top-line contributor despite the relatively pedestrian outputs. According to Evolving Hockey, Evangelista ranked as the 14th-best player in the National Hockey League in Goals Qbove Replacement (GAR). Moreover, he had the single-best isolated impact on shot attempts in the league while having superb passing and playdriving metrics to boot. This is a player who is primed for a legitimate 70-plus-point campaign next season and who could flirt with a point-per-game at the pinnacle of his career.
Waiting for that explosion rather than capitalizing on his underlying profile before he realizes his potential would be a mistake. The best-run teams lock up their young talent early — teams like Carolina, Montreal, Buffalo, and Florida have made their money in doing so.
The Devils would be wise to act quickly and follow suit.
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