Life has come at Luke Evangelista like a Bobby Hull slapshot.
It doesn’t seem like that long ago he was watching “Jersey Shore” as a school kid in Toronto, and now here he is, a veteran of 24 NHL games making the general manager rethink his development plan.
“Watching some of these young guys these days … they’re so confident that the size of the moment doesn’t affect them as it would have 10 years ago, I think,” said Milwaukee Admirals coach Karl Taylor, who was happy to get the young right winger back for the AHL playoffs.
“Does the 20 games give you a window into what’s coming in the future? … That was the best of the best.”
Consider the past year.
In 2021-22, Evangelista played juniors in Canada. In 2022-23, he finished the regular season as the Admirals’ leading assist man and third-leading point scorer, even with a two-month promotion. Evangelista made his NHL debut Feb. 28, scored his first point in his second game and finished with seven goals and eight assists and a plus/minus of plus-six.
Along the way, Evangelista had some laughs over the “little brother treatment” he got from veteran teammates, turned 21 and managed a better playoff beard than one might expect on his boyish face.
Evangelista literally improved before his teammates’ eyes.
“The more time that he spent in Nashville, you could see he was getting better defensively and when he was playing without the puck,” said Kiefer Sherwood, who started the regular season with Evangelista in Milwaukee and finished it as a linemate in Nashville.
“Obviously he’s gifted with the puck, always making plays. But he’s becoming a more complete player, and I notice a big difference in him and a lot of other younger guys too just between the beginning of the season to now.”
Predators tapped into Admirals talent often this season
The rapid ascent wasn’t entirely by plan.
When the Predators were hit with a series of injuries and then became sellers at the trade deadline, they dipped repeatedly into their Milwaukee talent pool. Forwards Michael McCarron and Phil Tomassino and defenseman Kevin Gravel shuttled between levels. Forward Egor Afanasyev and defenseman Spencer Stastney got their looks. Evangelista and Sherwood went for extended late-season stays.
“My message to every player who goes up there is, hey, try to extend your stay,” Taylor said. “If they were planning one game, let’s try to make it one game and one practice. Stay longer so you can find a way to be around it more, so they can find more ways to like you instead of more ways to get rid of you.
“Obviously there were some crazy circumstances going on with the rosters and all the different things that happened, but the kid played great, the moment wasn’t too big for him and I thought he showed very well.”
Well enough for incoming Predators GM Barry Trotz to mention him specifically in the season-ending news conference as a player who made him rethink his roster. Trotz expected Evangelista to spend another season primarily in the minors but realized he’ll have to consider saving a spot on the big club for ’23-24.
“I guess at this point I’m just more suited for the NHL game now that I’ve got a little taste,” Evangelista said. “You know what to expect, you know what works and what doesn’t really up there. Overall for my hockey career, I’ve definitely become a better player since that little stint.”
Familiar faces in Nashville made for a smooth transition for Evangelista
Some of that, he’d be the first to tell you, is because of players such as Novak and Sherwood and all the others he knew from early in the season in Milwaukee.
“When I got into that (locker) room for the first time – Nashville’s room – there were just so many familiar faces, which just makes that transition so much easier,” Evangelista said. “Fortunately I had some chemistry on the ice with some of those guys. … You build confidence on the ice and off the ice in the room.”
That’s exactly what Talyor expected from the 2020 second-round draft pick.
“It’s not like Luke was trying to make a pass to (Predators star Filip) Forsberg. (Forsberg) wasn’t playing because he was injured,” Taylor said. “So that pressure that you put on yourself playing with those guys that are established at that level, it was probably helpful to all of our players because they were playing with guys they’d played with in Milwaukee.”
The young Predators also had nothing to lose. Playing for a team starting a rebuild that could include any number of them, they won 16 of their final 28 games, including four of the last six, and came within three points of the playoffs.
When the Predators fell short, the Admirals got seven seasoned players back for the AHL postseason. Evangelista had a goal and three assists in a weekend split on the road against the Manitoba Moose. The best-of-five series resumes Wednesday night at the UW-Milwaukee Panther Arena.
Now Evangelista is looking to add significant playoff experience to the end of a season in which he saw more NHL ice time than he might have expected. He’ll keep getting better.
“Everyone is so good (in the NHL), lines one through four, so if you turn over the puck in a bad spot, like your own blue or the other team’s blue it’s going to come back to bite you,” Evangelista said. “My puck management has gotten better. Also, just kind of that defensive awareness. Like I said, everyone up there makes plays.”
Evangelista already has, and he will again.
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This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Predators prospect Luke Evangelista experiences playoffs with Admirals
