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Speculation: Nemec not happy with the Devils?

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WhiskeyYerTheDevils said:
Casey is significantly better defensively
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I disagree. It's fine for you to have a strickt opinion on whatever, but the fact that you keep hammering and spamming these gets a little annoying. You are by far the most vocal Devils fan on the mainboards, so you posting so much in such a strong manner skews the perceived view about the rest of the Devils fans and their opinions for the rest of forum. How many times have we read "the Devils fans told me.." when it's just one guy posting 10 times in a thread. I think the majority of the Devils fans are happy to keep Nemec and rather trade Dougie at the off-season.
 
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Young guys everywhere (in every sport) are just much more involved in their own careers these days. There are a lot of benefits to that -- they generally train harder at an earlier age, take care of their body much better, and become "professionals" (in the sense they treat their job in a professional manner) much earlier.

This is the other side of it though. If they feel like they're not in a situation that's right for them, they will take ownership of it and speak up. Everyone knows they have a very limited window to make money playing pro sports and they have to maximize every single bit of it. Playing in the AHL has probably cost Nemec ~$1M in actual salary and many more in the opportunity cost of his next deal. He sees that there are three established, very good RD on the depth chart ahead of him and that it will probably be hard for him to crack the lineup.

I think this is a very reasonable, well thought out quote from a guy that clearly takes ownership of his own career. I will also second Friedman's take that if you complain about NHL players being boring, don't complain when someone actually gives an honest quote.
 
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LaffyTaffy13 said:
How many #2OA picks did 3 years in the jungle?
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He played nearly the entire season in the NHL last year. Also Nemec isn’t your average 2nd overall pick, the 2022 draft was weak at the top, in a normal draft he would have been drafted in a similar range as the defenseman I listed above.
 
Has he played at a level that he deserves it? Also his argument of a 2nd overall spending time in the AHL in each of his three first years dies when you look at the 2md overall just two years before him, Byfield, who spend time in the AHL his first 3 pro seasons.

He is also a dman and historically they take more time to develop.
 
ninetyeight said:
I disagree. It's fine for you to have a strickt opinion on whatever, but the fact that you keep hammering and spamming these gets a little annoying. You are by far the most vocal Devils fan on the mainboards, so you posting so much in such a strong manner skews the perceived view about the rest of the Devils fans and their opinions for the rest of forum. How many times have we read "the Devils fans told me.." when it's just one guy posting 10 times in a thread. I think the majority of the Devils fans are happy to keep Nemec and rather trade Dougie at the off-season.
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I never claimed to speak for all devils fans, but I'm not gonna censor myself just because my opinion differs from the majority. I'm similarly annoyed by posters spamming excuses for Nemec and elevating him because of his draft pedigree, but you don't see me asking for them to censor themselves.

I suggest you ignore people who aren't able to differentiate between a single poster's opinion and an entire fan base.
 
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In today's NHL its not longer about whether you have earned something or not, these guys are looking at the rosters in front of them and trying to figure out if they have a path to be able to sign a good contract asap. I don't see Nemec's views as being that different from Askarov, and I don't recall too many people thinking he was being out of line asking to be moved.

He looks at the roster and realizes he may be stuck, or at least be stuck in a less desirable position. As time goes on you are going to see fewer and fewer guys drafted high being willing to sit back and just wait until things line up. It's just how it's trending.
 
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In season 1, Nemec was sent down to Utica, because he needed to adjust to NA ice and work on his defensive play. He did not complain, worked hard and significantly improved his D.
Season 2- He was sent to Utica again, worked hard and waited for his chance. When he was called up, he quickly showed he can play at NHL level.
Season 3- Club decided to sign two RHD vets which pretty much indicates they have no trust with Nemec. He got injured and had a slow start.
He is not similar case as Jiricek because Jiricek never proved he can play at NHL level.
If defensive play is the reason why he cannot be in NHL, then what was Luke Hughes doing there last year? Why can they be 100% patient with Hughes, but have no trust with Nemec. I guess those are the bad signals he was getting, so he is obviously questioning their approach.
 
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Egresch said:
In season 1, Nemec was sent down to Utica, because he needed to adjust to NA ice and work on his defensive play. He did not complain, worked hard and significantly improved his D.
Season 2- He was sent to Utica again, worked hard and waited for his chance. When he was called up, he quickly showed he can play at NHL level.
Season 3- Club decided to sign two RHD vets which pretty much indicates they have no trust with Nemec. He got injured and had a slow start.
He is not similar case as Jiricek because Jiricek never proved he can play at NHL level.
If defensive play is the reason why he cannot be in NHL, then what was Luke Hughes doing there last year? Why can they be 100% patient with Hughes, but have no trust with Nemec. I guess those are the bad signals he was getting, so he is obviously questioning their approach.
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They signed 1 RHD to replace one they traded (they traded another RHD at last deadline too) and traded for a guy making 766K. It just turned out that the league minimum guy has been one of the best defensive players in the NHL this season.
 
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Egresch said:
In season 1, Nemec was sent down to Utica, because he needed to adjust to NA ice and work on his defensive play. He did not complain, worked hard and significantly improved his D.
Season 2- He was sent to Utica again, worked hard and waited for his chance. When he was called up, he quickly showed he can play at NHL level.
Season 3- Club decided to sign two RHD vets which pretty much indicates they have no trust with Nemec. He got injured and had a slow start.
He is not similar case as Jiricek because Jiricek never proved he can play at NHL level.
If defensive play is the reason why he cannot be in NHL, then what was Luke Hughes doing there last year? Why can they be 100% patient with Hughes, but have no trust with Nemec. I guess those are the bad signals he was getting, so he is obviously questioning their approach.
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Because Luke is miles better than Nemec.
 
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WhiskeyYerTheDevils said:
Was his brain hurt? Because 95% of his poor play was due to awful decision making and making bad pinches up ice.

And it's not just this year, the last ~third of his rookie season marked a significant fall off in his play. He was really shaky.

How am I taking it out of context? I read the context, that doesn't explain why he felt the need to publicly threaten a trade request if things don't change.
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You raise good points. I would suggest that if he was hurt badly enough that it would spill over to his decision making. His play has only recently started to come around. Now that he is back on track you can see how the second half plays out and make a decision on him after you see what happens with Kovacevic and maybe Hamilton after the season.

This is a non-story to me right now. He’s frustrated and projecting but it’s not like he can really do much about it this season or next season.
 
WhiskeyYerTheDevils said:
Because Luke is miles better than Nemec.
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Sure, your perception just somehow does not correspond with any level of data.

Nemec was better in almost every aspect of D game last season. He was playing PP2, SH2, had better +/-, Even-strenght points per 60, less giveaways more blocks, etc. On the other hand Hughes was getting PP1 minutes and more Ozone starts related to that. Nemec was literally a way better defenseman than Luke Hughes last year.
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Egresch said:
Sure, your perception just somehow does not correspond with any level of data.

Nemec was better in almost every aspect of D game last season. He was playing PP2, SH2, had better +/-, Even-strenght points per 60, less giveaways more blocks, etc. On the other hand Hughes was getting PP1 minutes and more Ozone starts related to that. Nemec was literally a way better defenseman than Luke Hughes last year.
View attachment 962637
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Both of them suck

Devils fans were taking this guy before Slaffy. Sheesh.
 
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Egresch said:
Sure, your perception just somehow does not correspond with any level of data.

Nemec was better in almost every aspect of D game last season. He was playing PP2, SH2, had better +/-, Even-strenght points per 60, less giveaways more blocks, etc. On the other hand Hughes was getting PP1 minutes and more Ozone starts related to that. Nemec was literally a way better defenseman than Luke Hughes last year.
View attachment 962637
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Key words in bold. Last season, is exactly that, last season. Luke has improved miles over last year defensively and is a better player right now today than Nemec.
 
ninetyeight said:
I disagree. It's fine for you to have a strickt opinion on whatever, but the fact that you keep hammering and spamming these gets a little annoying. You are by far the most vocal Devils fan on the mainboards, so you posting so much in such a strong manner skews the perceived view about the rest of the Devils fans and their opinions for the rest of forum. How many times have we read "the Devils fans told me.." when it's just one guy posting 10 times in a thread. I think the majority of the Devils fans are happy to keep Nemec and rather trade Dougie at the off-season.
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I legit wonder if there's some personal connection there. Wouldn't be the most crazy thing, the hockey world isn't *that* big. Might be the highest I've seen someone on this board be with regards to one particular 2nd round pick while in their prospect phase consistently year to year.
 
Egresch said:
Of course, he is not happy:
- He was sent to AHL in his first year which was a great development from Devils as he was able to adjust to NA and slowly improve his D play
- He had strong rookie season last year where he clearly demonstrated top 4 potential
- Instead of showing him some trust, Devils signed two RHD vets
- I understand it was a coinsidence of his small injury and great play by Kovacevic, but all of a sudden he was back in Utica, The is the last place he wanted to be.
- Last, but not least, he is losing a lot of money now, Not only playing outside NHL, but what would be his next contract? If he has a good next season he might get 2x2M bridge deal, if he had 3 season under his belt he would be looking for 3.5M similar to Siegenthaler AAV. That is literally 3M lost, because of decisions made by Devils management.
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This is misleading, the signed Pesce and traded for what they thought would be a 7th D in Kovacevic but they also traded out Marino. So in reality they signed one as a Marino replacement and traded for depth.
It would have been a non issue if Nemec hadn't gotten hurt or played a whole lot better than he did.
 
Nemec for Reinbacher straight across. Montreal advances their rebuild and NJ gets a high end 5th OA pick who won't be ready for a couple seasons in exchange for a guy who they can't fit into the lineup right now
 
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vtdevils2k said:
Key words in bold. Last season, is exactly that, last season. Luke has improved miles over last year defensively and is a better player right now today than Nemec.
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Well, that is what I am talking about. Nemec was a better D last season, but the message from management in the off-season was the opposite. They trust Hughes and they will give him a chance, but they did not trust Nemec. Hamilton was coming back from injury, they signed Pesce and traded for Kovacevic which basically said you will be 3RD without any PP time and in case something goes wrong we have an insurance in Kovacevic. Two totally different messages and obviously nobody likes double standard treatment.
 
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