Devils sign Luke Evangelista to five-year contract

The New Jersey Devils have locked up right winger Luke Evangelista through the 2031-32 season, the club announced late Tuesday night. 

With the deal, they secure the future of the 24-year-old, whom they acquired on Sept. 1 in a trade with the Nashville Predators that sent the Colorado Avalanche’s 2028 first-round pick, with conditions, and New Jersey’s 2028 second-round pick in return. 

While the deal keeps Evangelista in New Jersey for the next six seasons, it wasn’t an eight-year deal, which would have had to be secured before Tuesday’s CBA deadline barred that length of contract. 

Instead, the mid-term deal falls below what Evangelista could have asked for from the Devils or other suitors, with a seven-year contract within the organization and six-year contracts for free agents still possible after Tuesday. 

The new deal, which begins in 2027-28, totals $36.25 million over five years, with an average annual value of $7.25 million. For 2026-27, Evangelista remains on his current deal, which he signed with the Predators, featuring a $3 million cap hit.

It will be largely front-loaded, with the 2027-28 season paying him $9.7 million, the second year sending him $8.26 million, the third year $6.12 million, and the final two years $6.085 million.

Over four NHL seasons, the Toronto native has scored 45 goals and 97 assists for 142 points in 253 regular-season games, with last season a career high of 12 goals, 44 assists and 56 points in 81 games. Prior to his NHL career, he scored 78 goals and 96 assists for 174 points in 151 OHL games, capped by an 111-point season with the London Knights, where he served as captain, before stepping into the professional game.

With his future set in New Jersey, he and the Devils look ahead to the preseason opener on Sept. 20 against the New York Islanders, before turning their focus to the season opener on home ice against the Philadelphia Flyers on Oct. 1.