For one, we haven’t even seen how the Jiricek trade will play out so we don’t know which team got the better in that trade.
Two, I think Nemec could bring a better return since he’s had more success post draft then Jiricek.
Three, he’s definitely been both underperforming and disappointing. His defense is still an issue and his offense is limited due to his lack of dynamic skating/skill.
He’s still a good prospect but he shouldn’t be seen as this untouchable player due to his draft status in a very weak draft class. Especially when the Devils have plenty of options moving forward on the right side.
Since basic mistakes in structuring and argumentation were made, we will have to explain as much as possible on simple things.
Firstly, Nemec critically did not do anything more against than Jiricek, so that his price would be critically higher.
Nemec was a better defender in D zone than Luke Hughes was last year. This year, he did not have the opportunity to properly demonstrate his qualities and capabilities against the background of injury and competition on the right side. Evaluating his defensive performance after injury, paired with Casey, is not an objective assessment method. Because, paired with Casey, it was Casey, despite his talents in attack, who had obvious problems in D zone. In a recent match against Buffalo, Nemec didn't look any worse in his zone in compare with Luke.
His offensive game is not as impressive as Luke's, but Luke's game is not an objective factor for evaluating all defenders and specifically Nemec, who could play in the NHL only last year as 19yo and overall has other tools.
On all other levels, Nemec performed well offensively, and in general, under the circumstances, he could not have done more at the moment to be a disappointment. At the moment, he was gaining enough points at all levels and showed high-quality play, including a more confident game in the NHL year ago, this is not underperforming. In order to demonstrate overperforming, he needed to have no injury and less competition - he is not in these circumstances.
Now let's move on to the criteria for evaluating an asset and the benefits of selling it. In this case, we have a young player, whose price was roughly indicated to us by Jiricek's trade - maybe a little more, maybe a little less. Selling such a young player at such a price (picks in roiunds 1 and 2 are assets that will or will not turn into something only after a while, they will definitely not turn into a high draft pick) we will compare it with the sale of bitcoin, because unfortunately we have to use such categories. In this case, our "Nemeccoin" was purchased by the team for a high price (second pick OA), and we will sell it at a reduced cost at the very beginning. At one time, bitcoin was worth $30, and someone was selling it for a dollar. Nemec, due to his talents, can grow a lot, because already at the age of 19 he demonstrated the ability to competently play at the NHL level - with childish mistakes but better positionally than Luke, Power and even Edvinsson, who were older year ago(Edvinsson finally started to play regularly only this season and he looks like a player on the level with Luke). Whether Nemec will grow up to be the defender of the second pair or the defender of the first pair, we do not know. But the late picks of the 1st round and the picks of the second round are assets that more often provide an opportunity to purchase a player for rent or draft a player ONLY WITH THE HOPE that he will, at best, become the defender of the second-third pair. Everything else is a great luck.
What you are offering is a deal for a quick sale of an asset with a short gain or a small loss. There is no benefit in this deal in the long run. What the Devils will lose if Nemec doesn't get better can't even come close to what Nemec is likely to become or at best. The benefits that the Devils will gain in the case of this stupid panic trade cannot be compared to the possible benefits that they will sell.
The only possible exception is to trade for a serious top line player in the package, but even in this case, the benefits are not so obvious, because Nemec is likely to grow into a top-4 player, or maybe a top-2 player, but at the moment he is not enough to make an exchange for a top line player, we will have to pay extra with another good asset (Arseniy\Lenny, perhaps the pick of the first round), which in total will represent a possible big loss, as is more often the case in such cases.
Therefore, anyone who is in a hurry to get a hundred bucks, without thinking about the possibility of losing 1,000 bucks, can certainly justify himself by trying to quickly save some asset. But this mindset is suitable for home trading (this is where large companies that provide the market make great money. based on emotions, fears, lack of thinking and banal mathematical literacy), but is not suitable for managing a big club, which includes players with multi-year contracts, who are given long-term tasks. Naturally, Fitzgerald also has a short task - to try to win the Cup now, but for this the Devils have cheaper, less significant, less talented assets. He should keep assets that will bring great benefits over a long distance. If he's a competent manager, of course. If he thinks in terms of quick benefits, then our club has problems.
