The Simon Nemec trade tree is growing more impressive after Luke Evangelista addition

During the 2022 NHL Draft, former GM Tom Fitzgerald and company drafted Slovak, right-handed defender Simon Nemec. He was coming off a banner year in the Ivan Hlinka-Gretzky Tournament and had an amazing World Juniors, falling short to Canada in overtime. The New Jersey Devils shuttling Nemec between the NHL and the minors during his time with the team didn't do him any justice, and he needed more time to grow at the NHL level.

Having seen the return on investment, Sunny Mehta shipped out Maxim Tsyplakov after Tom Fitzgerald got him from the Islanders in the Ondrej Palat trade. That move helped free up cap space first and foremost, but Tsyplakov at least offers an additional bottom-six forward to add to the Nemec trade.

The Devils' full return for Nemec and Tsyplakov was defensive prospect Etienne Morin, a 2026 second-round pick that originally belonged to the Rangers, Colorado's 2028 first-round pick, and Vegas’ 2027 first-round pick. The Devils traded the Colorado pick in the Evangelista move, and it had some conditions to protect the Avs. If Colorado's 2027 first-round pick (Top 10 protected, Nic Roy trade) goes to Toronto, Nashville acquires an unprotected 2028 first-rounder. If the 2027 first-round pick is Top 10 and the 2028 1st slides to Toronto, then Nashville receives Colorado's 2029 first-round pick unconditionally. 

The second rounder in 2028 from the Devils is the sweetener of the pot. That is what reeled in Luke Evangelista from the Simon Nemec, Ondrej Palat, and Maxim Tsyplakov trade trees. At first, a normal fan may think to themselves, "This GM made a bad move." Well, hold one's beer because Sunny Mehta just made Nashville's GM drink a cold one that probably didn't taste so clean and crisp yet maybe too strong and bold.

Multiple New Jersey Devils trade trees grow with the Luke Evangelista move

We wish Simon Nemec and Maxim Tsypalov great careers in Calgary, but this, along with the Palat trade, was an inevitable move with old GM Tom Fitzgerald gone. Sunny Mehta has a guy in Luke Evangelista who scored 56 points last season. That is a really high bar already for a young man who drives play, plays strong defensively, and is not afraid to make others on his line look more effective when they are finishers around him.

Luke Evangelista has the ability to pop at 60-65 points a season. During an 84-game season with his new linemates, potentially with Arseny Gritsyuk and Evan Rodrigues. He can play right and left wing. Gritsyuk can play both wings as well, while Evan Rodrigues can focus on being a center and also at times play right wing depending on the faceoff situations. 

According to some more technical projections for that line if Evangelista plays 75 games minimum with those two linemates Arseny Gritsyuk could hit 24 Goals and 53 points, E-Rod 20 Goals and 49 points, and LE with 20 Goals and 68 points that would be a 64-70 Goals pace to projected 165-180 points for an NHL 2nd/3rd line that will lift a big weight off the top line and other 4 lines on this Devils roster if these projections are deemed accurate this season especially with Anthony Mantha part of the top 6.

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