Drafting Simon Nemec instead of Logan Cooley
After the miss on not getting Stankoven in the previous year's draft, he would surely get this draft pick correctly. Nope, the Devils had the second-overall pick in the 2022 NHL Draft, and they could’ve picked another USNDTP player in Logan Cooley but instead picked defenseman Simon Nemec. Logan Cooley would be drafted after Nemec by the Utah Hockey Club, and both have gone in very different directions. Cooley has scored an average of 45 points in his first two years as an Arizona Coyote and Utahn, and he looks like he belongs in the league.
Simon Nemec has been a complete disaster in New Jersey this season. While he did have 19 points in his first season, his second season and his current time in New Jersey have been dreadful. To start, Nemec felt it was unfair that he never had a chance to prove himself.
Well, once Jonas Siegenthaler went down with an injury in February, Nemec got called up, and he has been the worst player on the team in recent games. The game on Friday night against the Winnipeg Jets at home after the trade deadline is a great example, as he had a -3 all because of the last three goals in the 3rd period by the Jets, with an awful turnover to hand a goal to Adam Lowry, and the previous two goals not even covering Kyle Connor and Cole Perfetti. They could’ve had another center to build around in Cooley, which could’ve worked well with the wingers, but instead, they chose a defenseman and are now paying the price for it.