Evening Notes: Evangelista, Kleven, Dumais, Hurricanes

While it appears that the Predators and Luke Evangelista have agreed that the winger’s next contract will be for two years, things don’t appear to be going well in terms of discussing money.  TSN’s Darren Dreger reports (Twitter link) that the two sides are still well apart on the financial side, so much so that the 23-year-old has left Nashville and is returning to Canada to train on his own while waiting for a contract to be hammered out.  Evangelista has two straight years of more than 30 points under his belt and is averaging exactly half a point per game in 172 career NHL appearances.  Despite that being a more concrete track record than many players have coming off their entry-level pacts, the two sides don’t appear to be close to an agreement just yet.

More from around the NHL:

• Senators defenseman Tyler Kleven left today’s exhibition game against Toronto in the third period with an undisclosed injury after crashing into the boards. Postgame, head coach Travis Green told reporters including Sportsnet’s Alex Adams (Twitter link) that there was no immediate information available about the injury.  Kleven was a regular on Ottawa’s third pairing last season, putting up 10 points, 97 blocks, and 105 hits in 79 outings while also getting into all six playoff contests.
• Blue Jackets prospect Jordan Dumais was injured in the final game of their rookie tournament last weekend and hasn’t been on the ice since. Aaron Portzline of The Athletic relays (subscription link) that the winger is listed as day-to-day with a hip flexor.  Dumais dealt with hip issues in 2024, undergoing surgery early that year and was limited to just 21 games with AHL Cleveland last season where he managed a respectable four goals and seven assists.
• The Hurricanes may hold defensemen Jaccob Slavin and Jalen Chatfield out of all of their preseason games, relays team reporter Walt Ruff (Twitter link). Head coach Rod Brind’Amour relayed that this would be merely as a precaution but generally speaking, this would only be done if the player is nursing a minor injury.  Slavin is a well-established top-pairing player on Carolina’s back end while Chatfield quietly averaged nearly 19 minutes per game last season.