The only good thing that came out of last year's playoff appearance for the New Jersey Devils was the emergence of Simon Nemec. Nemec played like a second overall pick and scored an overtime winning goal, putting the Devils back into the series. Even though the Devils were handled with ease in five games, Nemec proved that he could be a dependable asset on the back end.
During last year's regular season, Nemec was counted on as Brett Pesce's replacement. Nemec was arguably New Jersey's worst defenseman during his time in the NHL. Without Hamilton, the Devils were lost on the right side. Brett Pesce was consistently banged up. Nemec seemingly could not step into that role. His rookie season was good, but his sophomore and following years he has dropped off massively.
Nemec was average this preseason. Devils fans were still hoping that playoff Nemec would be the one to show up, not the below replacement player that they got used to seeing last season. In the Devils' 6-3 opening night loss to the same Carolina Hurricanes that sent them home 5ish months ago, Nemec was the Devils worst player.
With Jonathan Kovacevic out for the foreseeable future, Nemec is going to be counted upon to eat some of those minutes. If the game against Carolina is any indication of what version of Nemec the Devils are going to get, they might as well dress Dennis Cholowski instead.
Nemec had the worst GameScore according to HockeyStatCards on the Devils. The first goal was scored by Eric Robinson of the Canes, who outworked him, getting the puck back to the point, where Taylor Hall tipped it home. Nemec was also out there for the sixth goal the Hurricanes scored. Now, in fairness, Nemec did not have a stick. Watching the replay, he didn't play the body of Robinson, who went down the middle untouched to score the cherry on top.
NHL GameScore Impact Card for New Jersey Devils on 2025-10-09: pic.twitter.com/qKOMQpY2T8
— HockeyStatCards (@hockeystatcards) October 10, 2025
Nemec is going to have to rebound if he is going to stick around the NHL. This is a prime opportunity for him to show he belongs and the Devils should keep him instead of using him as trade bait whenever Kovacevic comes back to an already loaded Devils right side defense. It's only one game, but he just has to be better.
He needs to be stronger on the puck and make smarter decisions with the puck. If he is routinely on the bottom of the game sheet in advanced stats and plus/minus, Sheldon Keefe will have no choice but to scratch him.
It is only one game of the season. With that said, when the play is the same as it was for a majority of last season, one can not be blamed for pointing out the pattern. Playoff Nemec cannot be the outlier if the Devils want to be a successful hockey team. If this is the Nemec the Devils will get this season, buckle up. It is not going to be a fun ride when number 17 is on the ice.