Luke Evangelista is treating his future in New Jersey like a non-issue for now, even though the Devils may have a good reason to want to get ahead of it.
The 24-year-old winger was acquired by New Jersey from the Nashville Predators last week in a deal that sent a first-round pick, the Avs pick, and a second-round pick back to Nashville. Evangelista is heading into the final season of his contract at a $3 million cap hit, and he’s coming off career highs in both assists, with 44, and points, with 56.
That setup makes him a candidate for a long-term conversation sooner rather than later, especially after the contract tug-of-war that played out before he signed his two-year deal with the Predators ahead of last season. His agent, Judd Moldaver, and Nashville had to grind through negotiations then, so there’s at least a case for New Jersey to try to get something done before September 15th.
Evangelista, though, isn’t spending much time on it.
“The idea of playing in Jersey with the squad and all that contract stuff, that’s the one thing I learned is it’s kind of out of your control a little bit. So my job is just to go play, and when that comes around, we’ll deal with it when we get there. But I’m not too concerned about it right now.”
Elsewhere on the rumor circuit, the Sidney Crosby-to-Montreal chatter may finally be running out of road.
On The Sheet with Jeff Marek, Greg Wyshynski said it might be time to stop imagining Crosby in a Canadiens sweater - or in any other uniform, for that matter. He pointed to the longtime Penguins captain’s age, his superstar status, and the possibility that his two best friends might not be in Pittsburgh after this season as part of the reason the speculation has lingered.
Wyshynski floated the familiar Montreal dream in blunt terms, suggesting Crosby has long been linked to the Canadiens for hockey-historic reasons and could be the kind of player who “come and be the cherry on the sundae for Montreal” and maybe even “win a face-off or score a big goal. Perhaps even an overtime goal, which I believe he did in the Olympics once.”
Marek pushed back a bit, asking, “I don’t know about that one. What do you think?”
Wyshynski’s answer sounded a lot like a man ready to move on from the topic.
“I mean, listen, I’ve been in the Sid’s gonna play somewhere else business for too long. I may have to, I may, I may, I may have to close up the shop.
Because the more, the more he’s in Pittsburgh, the more it feels like he’s going to stay in Pittsburgh. The more it feels like he’s going to be a one team, a one team guy.
And that kills me because we’d all love to see him with (Nathan) MacKinnon. And we’d all love to see him and you know be the elder statesman, the Obi Wan Kenobi, leading the young Skywalkers in, in Montreal. But I just think maybe I have to close up the Sid, the Sid playing elsewhere shop.”
There was also a separate teaser in the roundup asking, “Does Connor Hellebuyck Even Make Sense for the Buffalo Sabres?”