Nashville Predators Rookie Luke Evangelista Just Lived Out His Childhood Dream

Forward Luke Evangelista's first game in Toronto didn't go the way the Nashville Predators would have hoped, but it will be a special memory nonetheless.

Every child growing up as a fan of the Toronto Maple Leafs dreams of the day they can throw on the Blue and White. 

Although most people never get that opportunity, players who are selected by other teams in the NHL draft can’t wait for the chance to play against the Leafs at Scotiabank Arena.

On Saturday night, Luke Evangelista of the Nashville Predators finally got to play against his childhood team. Hailing from Oakville, just 20 minutes west of Toronto, Evangelista grew up loving the Maple Leafs. Back in 2018, when Evangelista was playing for the U-16 Oakville Rangers AAA team, he was quoted saying his favorite player to model his game after was Mitch Marner.

“He’s one of the best offensive players in the league,” Evangelista said.

The Predators rookie also takes time to notice Marner’s ability to strip players of the puck in key situations and how he is an integral part of Toronto’s penalty kill. But his love affair with the Leafs spans farther than the Marner/Matthews era. 

When Evangelista was a child, he was gifted a Luke Schenn Maple Leafs jersey and would wear it at the then-named Air Canada Centre in support of Toronto. When Schenn signed with the Predators this off-season, Evangelista said it was a “full circle moment” for him.

With his emotional connection to the Maple Leafs, it is not a surprise that he had more than 50 friends and family members attending the game Saturday night. For most of them, it was their first time seeing him play live in the NHL. 

The feeling Evangelista had was like a kid on Christmas morning: He finally came back home, and he was going to play against his favorite team and favorite player in front of everyone who had helped him get to this point in an arena he dreamed of playing at his entire life. Nothing could ruin this moment for him.

Except the moment was ruined pretty fast when the Maple Leafs outplayed the Nashville Predators for the vast majority of Saturday’s game with Toronto winning 4-0 and Evangelista not looking very threatening throughout the contest. He finished the game with one shot on goal and a total of 12:18 of ice time.

Evangelista’s most notable highlight from the game was being obliterated by Maple Leafs defenseman Jake McCabe in the final six minutes of the third period with a hit that cut Evangelista above the left eyebrow and led to a fight between McCabe and Predators forward Kiefer Sherwood.

Once the game finished, Evangelista and the Predators were obviously in bad spirits, as the team had just been shut out in a game that meant so much to him.

“I had been looking forward to this game for a while,” he said.

The disappointment in his voice spoke volumes as to what this game meant to him as a local kid, but instead of feeling sorry for himself, he felt it was most important to move on and appreciate the gift that he was given that night.

“I’m just trying to soak the whole experience in," he said. "Playing in your hometown is cool.”

This homecoming will not go down in history as one of the best and one that will stick in the minds of fans for years. Rather, this homecoming will be a day that the Evangelista family will never forget. They will always remember Dec. 9, 2023. The day that their son stepped onto the ice at Scotiabank Arena to play the Maple Leafs on a Saturday night.