Nemec Picks Up Where He Left Devils Earlier In The Season, Unfortunately

NHL.com/Devils

Drafting kids in any sport is a crapshoot, an inexact science at best. Professional General Managers whiff all the time on picks. To survive, they live and learn.

However, miscalculations on high picks sting more. The Devils, whose wretched last dozen years or so have given them a boatload of such Draft opportunities, nailed their two shots at the No. 1 overall picks in Nico Hischier and Jack Hughes. Most of their other first-round selections, unfortunately, haven’t quite lived up to their billing.

Especially those taken since Tom Fitzgerald was promoted as the team’s General Manager following the 2020 dismissal of his mentor, Ray Shero. While it’s too soon to evaluate Fitzgerald’s last two Draft classes, it’s not too soon to start to worry about his 2022 No. 2 overall selection Simon Nemec.

When the Devils announced that defenseman Jonas Siegenthaler was going to “miss some time” with a lower body injury after he took a spill on the Pittsburgh ice on Tuesday, Nemec was perhaps the most logical call-up from AHL Utica to plug the hole in the lineup. Nemec had responded from a rough nine-game patch when New Jersey was down a couple of defensemen to start the season by growing his game in the minors, earning an All-Star nod (as a replacement for injured defenseman Seamus Casey) with 5 goals and 17 assists in 32 games. Last month, he had a five-point night against Hartford.

Around that time, an article from his native Slovakia was posted that had Nemec complaining about his status. The story blew over—Nemec specifically said that it was “too early” to request a trade and Fitzgerald was never going to accede to such a young player’s demand anyway—and Nemec was able to bide his time until getting another big-league chance on Thursday night when Vegas invaded The Rock.

It couldn’t have gone worse if Ed Wood had scripted it. The Golden Knights had golden chances to score after Nemec 1) tripped over a rut in the ice; 2) Broke his stick taking a shot; 3) Committed a lazy holding penalty; and 4) Iced the puck as soon as he got out of the box with the red line about a stride away.

Vegas did convert on a most bizarre and unlucky sequence that began when Nemec’s top of the right circle shot was blocked up in the air. Only Vegas forward Nicolas Roy saw where the puck came down and he took off down the left side with Nemec’s young partner Luke Hughes in pursuit. Roy’s first shot was stopped by Devils goalie Jake Allen, but Hughes couldn’t swipe the rebound away and Roy cleaned up the garbage to give the Golden Knights a 1-0 lead in a game they’d go on to win, 3-1, in a much more dominating fashion than the tally indicated.

The Devils registered a 26.8% expected goals for share at all strengths and lagged in high anger scoring chances, 16-3, per NaturalStatTrick.com. It was one of their worst performances in about five years. Considering that Nemec saw only 12:31 of action (he was benched for the final 10 minutes of the second period after the above icing and took just four shifts in the final frame), he was hardly the sole culprit in the loss.

Hughes was on for all three Vegas goals and the forwards showed no urgency until there was about five minutes remaining in the game. 27 seconds after the Devils got within two goals on an Ondrej Palat power play marker, Paul Cotter was whistled for an unnecessary cross-checking penalty, erasing two minutes of valuable comeback time.

But none of that absolves Nemec’s shocking unpreparedness for the speed and intensity of NHL hockey, which was exactly what held him back previously. The pre-Draft prospect connoisseurs once marveled at his ability to “think the game.” The problem is that at this level, one often doesn’t have the time to think things through. He has to react, with urgency and grit.

You can see it in Nemec’s movements in his own zone. He’ll be standing around, looking like he’s protecting the house, but then he’ll realize that the puck is in his area. Only then it’s too late to engage with force, so he gets behind the play. As a result of constantly chasing the puck, his skating and passing skill is rarely on display.

Last season, the Devils were so shorthanded that they had to give Nemec 60 games of experience for which he probably wasn’t ready. You tolerate youthful indiscretions in such situations. 2024-25 is a different animal, one where winning trumps development. Johnathan Kovacevic deserved the third-pair righty slot in the lineup because he was playing with more consistency, Nemec’s supposed higher ceiling be damned.

Except now that ceiling has the look that it might crack and come crashing down, threatening to plunge Nemec into the bust zone alongside current Vegas wing Alexander Holtz, Fitzgerald’s first selection as Devils GM with the No. 7 overall pick in the 2020 Draft who has a whopping three goals and eight assists in 49 games since the summer trade for Cotter.

In that same Draft class, Fitgerald tabbed Dawson Mercer (No. 18), a middle six forward searching for consistency, and Shakir Mukhamadullin (No. 20), who was dealt to San Jose in the 2023 Timo Meier trade and has just 14 NHL games under his belt, with his other two 1s. Despite Hughes’ occasional bad game, I have no complaints with Fitzgerald picking him at No. 4 overall the following year, but most Draft experts were stunned when he reached for grinder Chase Stillman at No. 29.

Which brings us back to Nemec, whom most mocks had going a few slots later. At the time, I complained that Fitzgerald appeared to be drafting for position over best player available, since the consensus next picks after Montreal took wing Juraj Slafkovsky were centers.

Again, I am not tooting my own horn, for Nemec will turn 21 next week. His New Jersey chapter might still find a happy ending, for it can take years for defenseman to figure things out.

Thursday’s outing might have just been one game where the whole team stunk, but I think, for now, it’s safe to say that Nemec hasn’t. The Devils (30-20-6, six points ahead of Columbus, who has a game in hand, for third place int eh Metropolitan Division) have only one more contest, Saturday afternoon at Montreal, before the 4 Nations Face-Off break. They can’t go back to Nemec and risk coughing up important points, even if it messes with his confidence and development.