Prospect Info: New Jersey Devils Draft Simon Nemec, 2nd Overall

[Captain3rdLine]

Ironic isn't it that Utica has won all 4 games played between the two teams? Nemec has only played 2 of them since he as in World's for the last 2.

Utica has incidentally just passed the Monsters with the those 2 wins and moved into 4th place in the North Division. Teams 2 -7 are separated by 6 points and 2-4 by 2. A couple wins or losses and a team can vault up the standings or crash down just as far. Utica has games in hand vs all of them except Rochester who has played the same number.

A little confused about what’s ironic here tbh. What are you trying to say?

 

[Bad Goalie]

A little confused about what’s ironic here tbh. What are you trying to say?

All the talk about Jiricek, Cleveland with the best PP in the AHL, Jiricek being an offensive (20Pts) player while Nemec is more defensive and showing less offense, (11Pts while playing for Utica, one of the worst teams) than many expected etc. and when comparing the Monsters to Utica they can't beat Utica in all 4 meetings for this season and Utica jumped past Cleveland and into 4th place in the Division.

Nemec has been a very exciting 18-yr old AHL rookie with a hockey IQ off the map, best of any Comet.

Both are brilliant rookies and both look to have lengthy NHL careers ahead of them and both will be among the leagues best D-men, but play different types of games and excel in those different aspects.

 

[haak84]

What the hell is wrong with all of you? Did no one else see who is at the bottom of the overall win shares list with Rockford?

I sure did.

 

[Xirik]

CAPTAIN NEMEC YALL!

 

[Devs3cups]

CAPTAIN NEMEC YALL!

Well deserved. He played one hell of a game today.

 

[Xirik]

Well deserved. He played one hell of a game today.

If the person screaming at the beginning is Nemec then I think were going to hear a lot of hotmics from him.

Hopefully nobody in Utica has corrupted him with english swear words...

 

[Nemo4]

CAPTAIN NEMEC YALL!

Haha, interesting choice for the official IIHF account to share this, I love it.

Rough translation:
Šimon: What did they get?
Team: Fu**ed!!
Šimon: WHAT DID THEY GET?
Team: FU**ED!!
Šimon: How many times?
Team: 1! 2! 3! 4! 5! 6!

 

[Devs3cups]

 

[devilsfan35]

 

[Devs3cups]

Great tournament for him. Poise, skating and IQ on full display.

1G, 4A, 5P in 5 games. Playing over 25-26 minutes a night. Impressive for an 18 year old D-man with an average team around him. Future is bright for our blue line.

 

[devilsfan35]

 

[Devs3cups]

Slafkovsky could’ve indeed been a difference maker for the Slovaks.

 

[Devs3cups]

Utica playing in Toronto against the Marlies tonight (January 3rd). Wonder if Simon joins the team there.

 

[Gurglesons]

it's unbelievable Jersey has this dude and Hughes coming up.

 

[PizzaAndPucks]

Utica playing in Toronto against the Marlies tonight (January 3rd). Wonder if Simon joins the team there.

Would be nice if he does but asking as he does for Fridays game I'll be happy. I plan on making the trip up to Utica to check out the farm team and their barn.

 

[Blender]

Definitely has some parts of his game that need to be cleaned up, but the skating, puck handling, his strength along the board and behind the net, etc. make for a very good player.

 

[Devs3cups]

Definitely has some parts of his game that need to be cleaned up, but the skating, puck handling, his strength along the board and behind the net, etc. make for a very good player.

I feel like he’s extremely well rounded for an 18 year old D-man already. He’s so calm and poised out there. Nothing seems rushed. He has that veteran feel to his game.

Obviously, 18 year old D-men have stuff to work on, I’m not saying he doesn’t. Just saying his game being this advanced and mature at his age is a great sign. Again, future is bright!!

 

[Forge]

 

[Devs3cups]

Not bad considering Nemec’s supporting cast and their opponents. Slovakia had a tough tournament and Nemec’s supporting cast was average at best. I really liked his tournament.

 

[Captain3rdLine]

Not surprising really. Was weirdly horrible on retrievals up until the last game. Guys would just step in front of him or push him off the puck. Wasn’t aggressive defending off the rush and his breakouts at times weren’t great.

Also didn’t see much of the puck in the ozone but when he did he was pretty much exclusively looking for a shot and there wasn’t much else available.

The lack of passing offense as well as the struggles on breakouts can be attributed somewhat to how Slovakia played. They didn’t have much support back on controlled breakouts instead just looking for long stretch passes and in zone they basically just funnelled to the net so when Nemec had the puck there wasn’t really any forwards trying to get open or roll up high like you see with a lot of other teams.


The shitty retrieval rate is on Nemec and was frustrating to watch at times and there were times he was doing the Dougie and just throwing it up the boards on breakouts rather than making plays.

 

[My3Sons]

Not surprising really. Was weirdly horrible on retrievals up until the last game. Guys would just step in front of him or push him off the puck. Wasn’t aggressive defending off the rush and his breakouts at times weren’t great.

Also didn’t see much of the puck in the ozone but when he did he was pretty much exclusively looking for a shot and there wasn’t much else available.

The lack of passing offense as well as the struggles on breakouts can be attributed somewhat to how Slovakia played. They didn’t have much support back on controlled breakouts instead just looking for long stretch passes and in zone they basically just funnelled to the net so when Nemec had the puck there wasn’t really any forwards trying to get open or roll up high like you see with a lot of other teams.


The shitty retrieval rate is on Nemec and was frustrating to watch at times and there were times he was doing the Dougie and just throwing it up the boards on breakouts rather than making plays.

It looked to me like he was pacing himself knowing he was going to play close to 30 minutes per game. I'm not sure I ever saw maximum effort from him before the game against Canada. Even against the US he was only using one or two gears at most. Definitely had a somewhat Hamilton look to his game to my eyes.

 

[Captain3rdLine]

It looked to me like he was pacing himself knowing he was going to play close to 30 minutes per game. I'm not sure I ever saw maximum effort from him before the game against Canada. Even against the US he was only using one or two gears at most. Definitely had a somewhat Hamilton look to his game to my eyes.

Ya that might’ve been it. I don’t know. The one weird area he really struggled in which lines up with those cards was the retrievals. Maybe it was because he was pacing himself like you said but he was so casual on the retrievals and they would just take the puck. Was much better at that against Canada. Was actually physical, put his body between them and the puck and was much more effective.

Also don’t think he got to full speed much.

 

[NJDfan86]

While I am thankful for the folks charting these games and releasing the data, it is important to try and not draw too many conclusions based on 5 games worth of tracked plays.

With Nemec in particular he has gone from playing on International his entire life to playing on an NHL sheet for this season - hard to get your timing right in only 5 games and some practices.

 

[Devils090]

saw some on Devils Twitter saying we should have taken Jiricek

 

[Devs3cups]

saw some on Devils Twitter saying we should have taken Jiricek

Jiricek’s a good prospect for sure, but I do prefer Nemec’s tools and strengths. I doubt most on Devils Twitter watch prospects closely other than stat lines.