Entering the 2025–26 season, the New Jersey Devils’ defensive group combines top-tier talent with developmental depth. Anchoring the corps are Luke Hughes, Dougie Hamilton, Brett Pesce, Jonas Siegenthaler, Simon Nemec, and/or Seamus Casey, providing reliable two-way play, puck-moving ability, and power-play contributions. Supporting this core are call-up and depth defenders Calen Addison, Dennis Cholowski, Mikael Diotte, Colton White, and Topias Vilén.
Together, this ensemble blends experience, skill, and potential, ensuring flexibility and resilience throughout the regular season and playoffs.
Simon Nemec’s Development
At 21, Simon Nemec has already demonstrated exceptional defensive awareness and smooth transitional play. With a new contract on the line, Nemec is projected to evolve into a top-four defenseman trusted in all situations.
His offensive contributions, particularly on the power play, are expected to grow steadily, while his defensive reliability will improve under the guidance of the coaching staff. Nemec is projected to increase takeaways by anticipating plays and intercepting passes, enhance shot-blocking through precise positioning, and develop a more strategic physical presence that bolsters net-front coverage without compromising judgment. Ice time and special teams responsibilities will expand as trust grows, allowing him to contribute confidently in both offensive and defensive scenarios.
Coaching Influence
The Devils' coaching staff, led by Sheldon Keefe, Brad Shaw, Jeremy Colliton, and Sergei Brylin, plays a pivotal role in accelerating development across the defensive corps. Shaw emphasizes gap control and positioning, refining shot-blocking and turnover prevention.
Colliton focuses on breakouts and transitional play, ensuring defenders can move the puck efficiently while minimizing risk. Brylin provides mentorship that cultivates situational intelligence, particularly for young call-ups, while Keefe encourages controlled offensive engagement, fostering calculated risk-taking without sacrificing stability. These interventions are projected to increase takeaways, blocks, and ice-time reliability across the top four while supporting the development of call-ups.
Top-Four Defensive Roles
Luke Hughes and Dougie Hamilton serve as primary puck movers capable of generating offense while maintaining defensive responsibility. Seamus Casey or Brett Pesce provides balanced engagement, supporting transitions and contributing on special teams. Nemec’s development complements these players, enhancing cohesion through improved anticipation, positioning, and two-way reliability. Together, this group forms a dynamic, top-four pairing capable of both sustaining pressure offensively and suppressing high-danger scoring chances defensively.
Call-Ups and Depth Roles
Call-up and depth defenders, including Addison, Cholowski, Diotte, White, and Vilén, provide rotational support, injury coverage, and situational deployment. Their style is more conservative and positionally disciplined, allowing them to integrate safely into the system without creating vulnerabilities. Coaching guidance ensures these players contribute effectively, supporting breakouts, transitions, and penalty kill duties. They also provide the top-four defenders with the ability to maximize ice time and strategic engagement, knowing capable depth is available when needed.
Strategic Defensive Style
The Devils’ defensive system emphasizes structured, intelligent engagement. Top-four defenders participate dynamically in offense, using anticipation and transitional skill to join the rush while maintaining gap control.
Call-ups and depth players operate conservatively, focusing on coverage, shot blocking, and supporting transition when necessary. The combination ensures the team can sustain possession, suppress scoring opportunities, and execute controlled breakouts while allowing younger players to develop safely within a cohesive framework.
The integration of coaching-enhanced top-four defenders with reliable call-ups improves overall defensive performance. Increased takeaways and blocks reduce opponent scoring chances and enhance penalty kill efficiency. Improved transition play allows forwards to generate more high-quality scoring opportunities. The depth provided by call-ups preserves ice-time balance, limits fatigue, and maintains cohesion in high-pressure situations. Collectively, these improvements translate into stronger regular-season results and greater playoff resilience.
Conclusion
Under Keefe and Shaw, the Devils’ defensive corps is expected to improve in takeaways, shot-blocking, strategic physicality, and offensive contributions. Simon Nemec exemplifies these gains, while the top-four and call-up defenders benefit collectively from mentorship, structured systems, and calculated freedom to join the play.
This approach enhances transition play, special teams performance, and overall defensive reliability, preparing the Devils for sustained success during the regular season and deep playoff runs. Following the 2026 KHL season end, it will be the end of Anton Silayev's KHL contract, meaning the New Jersey Devils can sign him to bring that towering, sasquatch, and speedy. Perhaps this future signing signals the serious message that teams must not try to take liberties on the Devils anymore, even after Brenden Dillon is no longer around.