Should Montreal Canadiens GM Kent Hughes have pounced on Luke Evangelista?
There hasn’t been much action on the trade market of late in the NHL, but on Tuesday night, the Nashville Predators sent forward Luke Evangelista to the New Jersey Devils for a conditional Colorado Avalanche first-round pick in 2028 and their own second-round pick in 2028.
Last season, Evangelista put up 56 points in 81 games, and unsurprisingly, some are wondering whether the Montreal Canadiens missed the boat by not acquiring the 24-year-old right-shot right winger. Of course, Evangelista is a promising young player, but he’s not what the Canadiens need right now
He’s 6-foot and 183 pounds and had a grand total of 21 hits last season. The Canadiens have got plenty of skill and talent up front. What they lack is a talented player who can bring physicality to their top six, a second-line center, perhaps more grit in the bottom six as well, and an experienced right-shot defenseman. Evangelista does not fit any of those bills.
The Canadiens front office made it clear in one of its last media availabilities: they are done acquiring talent just to see if it could work. The Canadiens are no longer in a simple asset accumulation stage; their rebuild has progressed. They are pleased with what they have put together, and now they need to acquire the missing pieces, those that fit the needs they have identified.
Yes, the Canadiens would have had the draft capital needed to pry Evangelista away from Nashville, but it wouldn’t have made sense to use their assets to acquire him. It’s clear that Hughes has been working the phones a lot this offseason, trying to strike a big deal, and he hasn’t given up hope. That draft capital could be instrumental in the Habs striking a major deal, one that would bring a higher-profile player to Montreal. There’s no guarantee that it will happen, but saving those assets for a bigger deal just makes sense.
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