2. Simon Nemec
Simon Nemec is an extremely gifted offensive-minded right-handed defensemen. He has extremely smooth skating, makes very smart breakout passes, has incredible vision, and an underrated and underutilized shot. Even though he is such a young prospect, he has as much or more professional experience that a lot of the prospects in New Jersey’s prospect system.
Nemec lit up the the Slovakian League and has the highest points per game for any defenseman under 21 years of age that played in the Slovak League. Despite the Slovak league not being as strong as other professional leagues, it is still extremely impressive for an 18 year old to play a lot of minutes and to dominate a professional league.
He also made his presence felt during development camp. Fans should be hyped for the second-overall pick in this year’s NHL Draft. Even though it is expected to see Nemec make his presence felt during this upcoming prospect challenge, it is the matter of how much his presence will be felt during these gamres. If he can immediately transfer his success from Europe and international play to the prospect challenge and training camp, he might make the roster sooner than later and make an immediate impact on the blue line. Nonetheless, Nemec is a player to watch and fans should be excited to see him play on the North American ice.