What does the future look like for Simon Nemec with the Devils?
Could New Jersey Devils defenseman Simon Nemec be the latest young player looking for a fresh start?
On Friday’s episode of Daily Faceoff LIVE, Frank Seravalli and Tyler Yaremchuk discussed recent comments Nemec made to a media outlet in his native Slovakia that hinted at his frustrations this season in splitting time between the NHL and AHL.
Tyler Yaremchuk: Let’s talk about a second-overall pick from 2022 in Simon Nemec with the Devils. Frank, earlier this year we saw a high draft pick in David Jiricek kind of just get sick of going up and down from the minors to the NHL, and Nemec had some comments the other day that would suggest he is sick of it too.
Frank Seravalli: It wasn’t as full-throated as that. It was basically like, I think the question was phrased to him in Slovakian, and reading the translations is always dangerous, but the idea was, ‘Have you asked for a trade or will you?’ He basically said, ‘I am not there yet but this is a situation worth monitoring.’ That is the Coles Notes of the translation. Did that catch anyone in New Jersey by surprise? Probably not really. This is a player that played a full season in the NHL last year. 60 games played, 19 points. I think he was asked to do way too much, too soon, alongside Luke Hughes on that back end. Now they have vets there, they have some players in front of them. They are potentially talking about the idea of re-signing Johnathan Kovacevic. I think the question that everyone is wondering is, ‘If all these things happen and stay true, what is the path forward for Simon Nemec to impact this team in the relatively near future?’ He has started to cook again in Utica for the Devils. I think he has 12 points in his last 10 games at the AHL level. He is playing better. He did need to play better there. That said, are teams going to be calling on Simon Nemec to figure out what New Jersey does and will he be available? Don’t know, but the point in talking about it is that this is a situation worth watching.
You can watch the full segment and the rest of the episode here: