Casey was excellent this year despite Nemec leaving out to dry to defend odd man rushes every game. And he's been
waaay better in the AHL as well.
Nemec was great in the first 40 or so game of last year, but then things quickly started to fall apart for him, and that continued into this season.
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He keeps trying to be an aggressive offensive dman, but he's just not talented enough to play that game at the NHL level. And because he's a relatively mediocre skater, he's not been able to recover from his over aggressive play. There are reports that this is still a problem even in the AHL.
Casey has displayed significantly better smarts, positioning, skating, puck skills, and shooting ability. The only thing Nemec has on him is size.