Nashville Predators 2024-25 Player Spotlight: The Emergence of Luke Evangelista

One of the most exciting young players for the Nashville Predators is the 22-year-old right winger, Luke Evangelista.

After making his NHL debut against the Pittsburgh Penguins late in the 2022-23 season, Evangelista showcased his talent and scoring abilities throughout the remainder of the season, and was able to earn a roster spot at the start of the 2023-24 season.

Evangelista is locked into a starting role for the Predators right now with training camp getting closer. Let's take a look at where his role will be and if he can be one of the NHL's young breakout players in 2024-25.

Evangelista's 2023-24 season recap

Evangelista was easily one of the most improved players during the 2023-24 season, as his impact was seen more and more as the season went on. After losing his game towards the beginning of the season, Predators Head Coach Andrew Brunette healthy scratched him for a game in hopes that he would come back with a newfound confidence and relax back into his game.

Evangelista certainly did that, putting up 16 goals and 23 assists for a total of 39 points in 80 games played. He also was able to score a goal in his first ever Stanley Cup Playoff appearance. 

Among rookies Evangelista finished sixth in points, and second in shots on goal for all rookies, just behind Connor Bedard. If these shots that he is taking start finding the back of the net, we could really see an amazing emergence from the young forward, as it is clear that he is unafraid to take advantage of scoring opportunities.

Evangelista's shooting percentage in 2023-24 was just below league average at 9.13 percent. If he can improve in this area, the he should easily surpass 20 goals in a season.

During this past season, Evangelista was moved around the lineup quite a bit. He even got some playing time with Filip Forsberg, Ryan O’Reilly and Gus Nyquist who assisted on a few of his goals during some moments in between line changes. He found sparks with several different players on the roster, and it is clear that he is able to bring something special to any line that he plays on. 

Evangelista improved drastically throughout the season and clearly became more comfortable while playing in the NHL. The key for him will be maintaining this progress and improvement throughout the 2024-25 season.

2024-25 season outlook for Evangelista

Evangelista will have a very important role to play this season if he can manage to continue his progress. After the addition of Steven Stamkos and Jonathan Marchessault, the top six will be filled out if all players can remain healthy.

Evangelista will bring that much needed depth and bottom six scoring that the Predators have been lacking in previous seasons. He can come out and create great scoring chances without needing to be on the top line, so his role on the team will be crucial when going up against other deep teams.

I can see Evangelista moving between top and bottom six, depending on what line combinations end up working throughout training camp and preseason. It would be very interesting to see him get playing time with some of these high end players such as O’Reilly, Nyquist, Stamkos, and Marchessault. 

Evangelista proved last season that he can add creativity to the skill of these players, so getting time with them might prove really beneficial for the entire team. He will overall make the team much more dangerous because of the scoring depth that they have been curating. 

Looking at the Predators revamped power play, Evangelista will also most likely play on the second power play unit after spending quite a few games on the first unit during the 2023-24 season.

Having players like Evangelista and Novak play on a second power play unit because of the range of skill they have up front will hopefully make the Predators power play much more lethal. 

After the progress he made last season, we can expect some great things to come from Evangelista during the 2024-25 season. The spark that he can bring to the ice will be very exciting to watch and should prove to be very beneficial to the Predators having a successful season.