Simon Nemec, welcome back to The NHL. Let’s see what you do with the opportunity.
Ahead of Thursday night’s tilt against the Vegas Golden Knights at Prudential Center, the New Jersey Devils recalled top defense prospect Simon Nemec from AHL Utica to take the spot of Jonas Siegenthaler, who is out for the immediate future after being injured against the Pittsburgh Penguins on Tuesday night. On Thursday, with Nemec playing 12:32 of ice time, New Jersey fell to the Golden Knights 3-1.
Along with his scant ice time, Simon Nemec had a rough go of things early in the game as he twice fell down in the first period, allowing quality chances to the Golden Knights that had Jake Allen scrambling to make the save. All told, he played 5:39 in the opening period and finished with two blocked shots and little else.
That 5:39 was the second lowest ice time for a Devils’ defenseman in the first period, with only Luke Hughes (5:01) playing less. Neither Nemec nor Hughes saw any time on the Devils’ four-minute penalty-kill. After two periods, Nemec was up to 8:46 of ice time, had committed one penalty and was a minus-one for the evening. He was also benched for the final 10:09 of the second period after playing one shift following his penalty.
The third period saw the 20-year-old Slovakian receive just 3:46 of ice time, a sure sign that his return was not going as hoped.
For the young defender, it has been a roller coaster of developments. First, he was drafted second overall by the Devils in 2022. He spent the 2022-23 season in Utica, playing 66 games for the Comets and showing real promise as a future top-flight NHL defenseman. Then, he split the 2023-24 between The AHL and NHL. Nemec played 60 games for the Devils, recording 19 points and a minus-seven rating while averaging 19:52 of ice time. There were plenty of ups and downs throughout those 60 games, but that was to be expected for a rookie defenseman.
This season, Nemec broke camp with the Devils, playing nine games and did not look as steady as last year. His average ice time was down from 19:52 to 16:07. His spot in the top four was essentially taken by Jonathan Kovacevic, who had a break-out camp and start to the season. Kovacevic has continued to hold down a top-four defense spot this year, while Nemec has looked good with Utica, totaling 22 points in 32 games with a plus-nine rating.
“I had a really tough start there,” Nemec told New Jersey’s digital reporter, Amanda Stein. “But I’ve found my way now. Biggest thing was consistency, what I’ve done the last 15, 20 games. It’s been better than it was. I just want to be a really good two-way defenseman.”
Then, in early January, Nemec made comments to a Slovakian news outlet, expressing his frustration over being in The AHL and not getting any further NHL opportunities. That led to trade speculation that never seemed to go anywhere, as the Devils were not inclined to deal away one of their top prospects, who is still just 20-years-old (he turns 21 on February 15th).
“Feel like he’s ready for this opportunity,” Devils’ Head Coach Sheldon Keefe told Stein after their morning skate. “There’s always differing opinions on whether players should or shouldn’t be in the AHL or NHL, but what I don’t think can be debated is that every player can benefit from being in the AHL”
Now, Nemec is back in The NHL and will likely get at least a couple of games to try and force Devils’ management to keep him at the big league level. If he continues to play like he did against Vegas it won’t be a hard decision at all and the trade speculation may ramp up in a big way.
“It wouldn’t be fair to evaluate any player specifically ’cause nobody was good today,” Keefe told the media after the game.
As for the rest of the Devils, they were thoroughly outplayed by the Golden Knights.
Jack Hughes was penalized for his first career double-minor when he was called for high-sticking Victor Olofsson 7:01 into the first period. New Jersey managed to successfully kill off the penalty but could not capitalize on the momentum with a goal in the opening period.
The second period didn’t start much better. Luke Hughes appeared to put the puck into his own net when Allen allowed a big rebound after initially making the save on Nicolas Roy’s partial breakaway attempt 3:06 into the middle period, 1-0 Vegas. After several replays, it looked like Roy actually got a piece of the rebound at the last second. Either way, New Jersey trailed 1-0.
Then, 7:27 into the second period, Nemec was called for holding Roy. The Devils once more killed off the penalty but eventually gave up a goal to Shea Theodore 11:18 into the period, 2-0 Golden Knights.
Through two periods, the Devils only registered nine shots on goal. And while they managed to tally six shots in the third period, one of them being a power-play goal by Ondrej Palat, it was too little too late. Jack Eichel scored 4:06 into the final period to give Vegas a 3-0 lead. So, when Palat scored 11:37 later, it was more a moral victory to avoid being shut out than it was an actual comeback.
Next up is a date with Montreal on Saturday before the two-week break for the Four Nations Tournament begins and New Jersey surely wants to go into the break with a little momentum on its side.
