The New Jersey Devils shocked some people at the 2022 NHL Draft when they selected Simon Nemec over Logan Cooley, Shane Wright, and David Jiricek. Nemec was an interesting prospect coming into the draft. He wasn't this superstar defensive prospect like Miro Heiskanen, Luke Hughes, and Cale Makar. There were question marks, but this was primarily considered a weaker draft than years past. It appeared the Devils pick came down to Jiricek and Nemec, and both have serious question marks today.
Which is surprising since Nemec was incredible last season. He came up to the NHL in December 2023 after Dougie Hamilton's pectoral injury. Of the players who played at least 600 minutes last season, Nemec was the only one to be on the ice for more goals for than goals against at 5v5. The Devils have him 17 minutes a night, throwing him right to the fire as the rest of the defense was a mess. The Devils were dealing with a dreadful system that was implemented to make up for the losses of Damon Severson and Ryan Graves. It was made even worse with Hamilton’s injury, but Nemec did his best to make up for the loss.
Yet, when he started this season, Nemec was pretty terrible. New head coach Sheldon Keefe paired him with rookie Seamus Casey, who was showing an incredible offensive touch. They had major issues at 5v5, and both were quickly removed from the lineup once Luke Hughes and Brett Pesce recovered from offseason injuries.
Nemec was kept in the owner’s box for part of November before the Devils realized he would be better playing with the Utica Comets. He had a rough start, and it’s impacting his numbers today. He has just 11 points in 22 AHL games, but that number has grown over the past few weeks. He has eight points in his last 11 games since December 9th. It’s been a much better second month.
However, there are rankings that are still putting Nemec was down in their prospect rankings. Coming into the season, The Athletic’s Corey Pronman had Nemec ranked 42nd among players and prospects under the age of 23. He was placed in “Tier 6,” which is saved for middle-of-the-lineup players who could one day grow to be a top-line guy. That’s not a terrible ranking, even with Luke Hughes (6th) and Anton Silayev (11th) ranked way higher than him.
Simon Nemec's value isn't where some prospect writers believe it is.
The current rankings, which came out Tuesday, ranked Simon Nemec 81st. There are a few rage-bait rankings on the list, including Lane Hutson being ranked 39th, but a former second-overall pick who was NHL-ready at 19 years old being ranked in the 80s without any signs of actually busting is just strange. Nemec is ranked behind Maveric Lamoureux (who was drafted 29th in Nemec’s draft and was also demoted this season), David Reinbacher (who is out for the season with a knee injury and has been tied to trade rumors), David Jiricek (who was traded for not being good enough for Columbus), and Jamie Drysdale (who has had major issues in the NHL).
This seems extreme. Pronman hasn’t been high on Nemec in the past, so this isn’t terribly surprising, and we doubt many around the league share his pessimism for Nemec.
Some Devils fans are calling for Nemec to be traded for help right now. It’s a mistake. If this truly is Nemec’s value, it’s crazy to even consider a trade. The Devils are starting to see the best of Nemec again. He’s providing offense and has gone back to his two-way game. An offseason shoulder injury probably had a bigger impact on him that anyone wants to admit. Let’s not overreact to what the Devils have here.
This isn’t an Alex Holtz situation where it might come down to trading him for a fraction of his value. Nemec is going to keep growing, and he might be really good one day. It’s worth the wait.