The New Jersey Devils have plenty of valuable young assets they can pare off if they want to trade for Vancouver Canucks captain Quinn Hughes and bring him in early, but Simon Nemec has proven that he absolutely does not belong in that conversation any longer.
Nemec, quietly still just 21, has emerged as, effectively, the Devils' No. 1 defenseman this season, stepping up in the wake of injuries to Dougie Hamilton, Brett Pesce, and Johnathan Kovacevic.
Hamilton has since returned, but that hasn't impacted Nemec's ice time or role that he's wrested away from the veteran.
Simon Nemec is too important to the Devils to move, even if it's for an upgrade
Things get complicated if and when Pesce and Kovacevic return, but again, Nemec is 21. The former second-overall pick is clearly the future of this defense on the right side with his five goals, nine assists, and 14 points in 23 games.
The point totals are also just the tip of the iceberg, really. It's also about how he's getting those points, like scoring overtime winners against Chicago and St. Louis and scoring a desperate game-tying goal against the New York Islanders.
Many experts, coaches, and players will refer to a goalie's ability to make a timely save as a key trait, but the same, in all honesty, is true of all athletes, goal-scorers, and defensemen. It's all coming together for Nemec, and we can consider him an indispensable piece in any trade for Hughes at this time.
On the other hand, if the Canucks still want a defenseman from the Devils, they have plenty of options to choose from.
With Victor Mancini and Tom Willander on the right side, 2024 No. 10 overall pick Anton Silayev might make some sense. If the Canucks want to get back some of Hughes's offense, Seamus Casey, Nemec's draft classmate, would work, but they'd also need to trade Hughes's defense partner, Filip Hronek, at some point to max out the value of that addition.
The whole point of adding Hughes, who is still young himself at 26, is to compete now, but if the Devils want to compete now and in the future, holding onto Nemec needs to be their top priority, otherwise they'll only find themselves looking to try to replace him in a few years' time.