New Jersey Devils: Comparing Simon Nemec To David Jiricek
By Nick Villano
Higher Upside: Nemec vs. Jiricek
This one is interesting, and it could decide who goes where in this draft. It also has to do with who is drafting where. Defensemen usually get a little more leeway in the early parts of the draft. We’ve seen it work out before. Players don’t have to make the NHL right away at this position in order to become a star. The best young defensemen in the league include Cale Makar, Miro Heiskanen, Adam Fox, Charlie McAvoy, and Aaron Ekblad. Of those, only Fox was taken outside of the first round. Taking a defenseman high is usually a good proposition even if it is a risk to bet on the upside.
So, looking at Nemec versus Jiricek, the upside tells an interesting picture. Some say Nemec’s two-way play makes him a pretty good bet to be a top defenseman on some team. Will he be in Norris voting? That’s hard to say right now, but he doesn’t seem like that type of player. He could be, we suppose. He was a better scorer than Jiricek last year, but he was burying assists at a high rate.
Meanwhile, Jiricek is considered by some easily the best defenseman in this class. That’s not because he’s the best player at the position right now, but it’s because he’s the best player once they are NHL-ready.
Jiricek seems like he’s closer to NHL ready, he has much better size than Nemec, and he’s a big-play maker. Between his hitting ability and his scoring ability, he seems like he could be a star at the next level. Jiricek could be a star at the level of the names we mentioned earlier. That isn’t to say Nemec can’t, but that’s more projection than it would be for Jiricek. However, there are other issues we can bring up.