EDMONTON – As Jake Evans and his wife, Emily Flat, prepared for the NHL trade deadline on Friday, they decided to pack.
Not for a vacation, but for good.
Evans and Flat did this at the end of every season. They rented a furnished apartment in Montreal every year because it was more convenient, but it also spoke to the lack of permanence Evans had with the Montreal Canadiens.
It is a lack of permanence he’s had his entire NHL career. When Evans signed the three-year contract worth $1.7 million a year that expires at the end of this season, he still wasn’t a fully established NHL player. It was not clear if his future was in Montreal or elsewhere. There was a rebuild happening. Players were leaving all the time.
This was an annual process for Evans and Flat, who met in high school and got married last summer, but it was happening a bit earlier than usual this year.
Up until very recently, Evans was mindful of the opportunity in front of him, hitting unrestricted free agency at 28 during a career year offensively while playing an important role in Montreal. This was his opportunity, perhaps his only one, to sign a big contract.
As they packed their apartment, ahead of a looming four-game road trip through western Canada and Seattle that ends on the other side of the trade…
