The New Jersey Devils suffered their first loss of the season on Thursday night. In front of a raucous home crowd, the cheers quickly turned to quiet murmurs. The Toronto Maple Leafs completely demolished the Devils in the first period, controlling puck possession, causing turnovers, taking advantage of mistakes, and forcing the Devils to play flat on their skates.
The Devils bounced back and played much better in the second half of the game. They were crisper on passes (although they were still not where fans wanted them to be), they had better chemistry, and it seemed like they got their legs. They were drawing a bunch of penalties, and the team looked even with the Maple Leafs.
Unfortunately, the Devils never had a chance after going down 3-0. They were behind the 8 ball, and the Maple Leafs had a really good defensive gameplan to keep the Devils from getting to those high-danger areas.
Ignoring the game as a whole for a moment, we need to discuss Simon Nemec. He doesn’t look right, and in this game, it lost it for them. Sure, Jacob Markstrom put up a stinker and the power play could not get the Devils on the board despite ample opportunity, but Nemec made too many mistakes, and it went in the back of the net multiple times.
According to Natural Stat Trick, Nemec was on the ice for four high-danger chances against (the most of any defenseman). That led to two goals against, and the Devils scored none while he was on the ice. Nemec looks uncomfortable with the puck on his stick, and he seems to be tentative just in getting into position. There were many times where a forward was covering his position, and he didn’t know if he should move back to his position or stay up and leave a forward back on the blueline.
The big question is, “Why?”. Why is Simon Nemec, after such a successful rookie year, just completely falling over himself in the first three games? Even in the Devils’ wins against the Sabres, Nemec didn’t look like himself. The most obvious answer seems to be his shoulder injury. Nemec had to end his Olympic qualifiers early because of what looked like a major shoulder injury. We were lucky when he was available on Day 1 of training camp, but it might still be impacting his play.
Nemec might also be getting used to the Sheldon Keefe system. With a shortened training camp, and this being just his second season, plus it being his first season as a fulltime NHLer, there will be some growing pains. However, with a team that has sky-high expectations, the Devils can’t afford to take chances with every two points they have available.
The first thing the Devils can do is break up Nemec and Seamus Casey. They are both incredibly young and prone to mistakes. Brenden Dillon had himself a rough night on Thursday, too, but he’s usually incredibly reliable. Put Nemec with Dillon and Casey with Kovacevic (or hopefully add a returning Pesce to the lineup), and you got some really good lines.
There’s also the chance that Nemec can work his way back to health in the AHL. It was one of our bold predictions. It wouldn’t be for the season, but a few weeks in Utica would help settle him down and build his confidence while building him back from his shoulder injury, if that truly is the issue.