RD Simon Nemec (2022, 2nd, NJD)

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I like this guy more and more. Last game he's added beautiful first assist, he is now on 4 points in 13 games between top men league in Slovakia.
I hope he will be on the final roster for WJC.
 
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I like this guy more and more. Last game he's added beautiful first assist, he is now on 4 points in 13 games between top men league in Slovakia.
I hope he will be on the final roster for WJC.

Sure he will. Question is, how will he play?
 
I don't think it's an outrageous statement. Nemec is a year and a half from being drafted, and is already playing in Slovakia's best mens league. It's not unprecedented that a player his age is a sure-fire top pairing defenseman.

However, I also think its probably too much of a hot-take at this point. Even at the point a player is drafted, you can usually only say a defenseman the caliber of Dahlin is a sure-thing top pairing defenseman. Even players like Drysdale, Byram, Seider probably didn't have that type of floor. I guess its possible that Nemec is in that same draft range in 2022 as the first few defenseman off the board in the last few drafts, but I think he'd need to be in a higher draft range that probably isn't even semi-realistic for that type of statement to have merit at this point.
 
I don't think it's an outrageous statement. Nemec is a year and a half from being drafted, and is already playing in Slovakia's best mens league. It's not unprecedented that a player his age is a sure-fire top pairing defenseman.
What?

Talking about precedent, he is fairly close to Cernak's development ark. Now the good news is - Cernak didn't bust. Is he a "sure-fire top pairing NHL D" or was considered as such at any point? Not really. The guy was drafted in the 2nd round.
 
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What?

Talking about precedent, he is fairly close to Cernak's development ark. Now the good news is - Cernak didn't bust. Is he a "sure-fire top pairing NHL D" or was considered as such at any point? Not really. The guy was drafted in the 2nd round.

Was Dahlin a sure-fire top pair defenseman a year and a half before his draft? He might've been.

I don't know why you mentioned Cernak. We don't need to compare him only to Slovakian defensemen.

And to preempt the response I'm sure is coming, I'm not saying he's as good as that person is suggesting. I'm saying that if you actually believed he was, it's not an outrageous statement.
 
Was Dahlin a sure-fire top pair defenseman a year and a half before his draft? He might've been.

I don't know why you mentioned Cernak. We don't need to compare him only to Slovakian defensemen.

And to preempt the response I'm sure is coming, I'm not saying he's as good as that person is suggesting. I'm saying that if you actually believed he was, it's not an outrageous statement.
Was Erik Gudbransson not a sure-fire top pair D? Bogosian? Adam Larsson? Even the guys I've listed, who were in the running for #1 overall, often fall short of the top-pairing mark so I'd need much harder evidence than the words of Samuel Tirpak, whoever he is, to believe Nemec is basically generational talent. Regarding your last sentence, that is fair enough.

Regarding Cernak, you said "Nemec is a year and a half from being drafted, and is already playing in Slovakia's best mens league.". So Cernak is a natural comparison in that sense. It's not something we haven't seen before.
 
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Was Erik Gudbransson not a sure-fire top pair D? Bogosian? Adam Larsson? Even the guys I've listed, who were in the running for #1 overall, often fall short of the top-pairing mark so I'd need much harder evidence than the words of Samuel Tirpak, whoever he is, to believe Nemec is basically generational talent. Regarding your last sentence, that is fair enough.

Regarding Cernak, you said "Nemec is a year and a half from being drafted, and is already playing in Slovakia's best mens league.". So Cernak is a natural comparison in that sense. It's not something we haven't seen before.

Some use more hyperbole, and like grand predictions. Others don't. Nemec is playing at a credible level right now, and it's not that hard to assess his skillset. Plenty of people make predictions about the caliber of players his age. This guy obviously wanted to use hyperbole. He's allowed to. Maybe in two years most people will be saying similar things about Nemec, and the statement that seemed hyperbolic could've ended up being a good prediction.
 
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Some use more hyperbole, and like grand predictions. Others don't. Nemec is playing at a credible level right now, and it's not that hard to assess his skillset. Plenty of people make predictions about the caliber of players his age. This guy obviously wanted to use hyperbole. He's allowed to. Maybe in two years most people will be saying similar things about Nemec, and the statement that seemed hyperbolic could've ended up being a good prediction.
And about that Cernak comparison. Nemec is much better than Cernak when he played in Extraliga at 16. Probably better at everything.
 
And about that Cernak comparison. Nemec is much better than Cernak when he played in Extraliga at 16. Probably better at everything.
Well, for starters, he does have a smaller frame. Which was probably Cernak's biggest asset as far as his draft position goes.

And I understand Nemec is the better prospect, of the two. The questions are 1) how much better?; 2) how much of a safe bet is he to reach his ceiling;

That's the tricky part with Slovakian hockey in general, including this prediction. It's hard to trust anything because Slovaks tend to overrate everything. Wasn't Stacha like a sure-fire mid-round pick just a year ago?
 
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Well, for starters, he does have a smaller frame. Which was probably Cernak's biggest asset as far as his draft position goes.

And I understand Nemec is the better prospect, of the two. The questions are 1) how much better?; 2) how much of a safe bet is he to reach his ceiling;

That's the tricky part with Slovakian hockey in general, including this prediction. It's hard to trust anything because Slovaks turn to overrate everything. Wasn't Stacha like a sure-fire mid-round pick just a year ago?
Yeah of course. Erik was bigger guy at that age and more physical. Simon is better skater, passer and has much better vision. He is very consistent player, rarely see a bad game from him. He could have scored more points already with bit more luck.
"Slovaks turn to overrate everything." - With exception of few poster here on Hfboards, no, we are never doing that on Slovak forums. Over the years we are used to disappointments unfortunately. There was a lot of players in the past who looked very solid at age of 15,16,17 but they ended up as a busts for various reasons. Injuries, concussions, great tools but no hockey IQ etc. But its also true that 04 born kids like Mesar, Nemec, Slafkovsky looks very promising, much better than Slovak prospects from the past.
Marko Stacha - i was disappointed when he wasnt drafted. He looked very good during the whole season and a lot of people (not Slovaks) were saying that too. I was predicting 5-7th round for him but it didnt happen. Hes heading to WHL, so he can be still drafted as a overager, we will see.
 
I'm not Slovak so maybe my opinion is more objective.

Stacha was 91st in my board.

Franchises prefer to take Americans who play in high school because they will keep their rights longer. Often these choices do not work.

Is Stacha better than Ian Moore? Probably.

Are the Slovaks overpriced? Those who play in Finland or Sweden (Slafkovsky, Strbak, Dvorsky) are among the best players of their age.

For me Nemec currently looks like a first round.

Mesar and Elias are solid prospects. Slafkovsky is indisputably a first round.

We are not talking about 30 Slovaks for 2022. Only 4 players to which will be added a few others (Sykora).
 
That's the tricky part with Slovakian hockey in general, including this prediction. It's hard to trust anything because Slovaks tend to overrate everything. Wasn't Stacha like a sure-fire mid-round pick just a year ago?

People overrate prospects from their country no matter where they are from. Stacha could very well be drafted next year. Good U20 tournament and some games in WHL should do that.

Tricky thing here is that Slovakia's top league isn't that good so while it is impressive that Nemec has taken top 4 role in a men's team at the age of 16, it is still just the Slovakian league. It is a bit difficult to judge how impressive this is when you take the context into account. There have been a bunch of these Slovakian players who do well in Slovakia, but when they go NA they struggle and don't reach the expectations. It is easy to understand why people get excited when players perform well. They should also remember that the league isn't very good and I think that a lot of Slovakian fans on HFboards realise this and even the players got it as many choose to go to other countries.

Luckily the U20 tournament is just around the corner and that is a good place where Nemec can measure his skills against his peers from different countries (hopefully he's on the team).
 
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Franchises prefer to take Americans who play in high school because they will keep their rights longer. Often these choices do not work.

Is Stacha better than Ian Moore? Probably..

I think there's a point to be made that a few Slovak's, Czech's, German's, Austrian's, Swiss probably aren't drafted each year that should be, but to put out a blanket statement that there's some issue with taking Americans who play high school hockey or Ian Moore is a little peculiar.

Do you realize that NHL teams have the rights for most players playing over in Europe about as long as these American high school players? They have the rights to Russians indefinitely, as well. Which players in Europe have their been rights issues with except for a very few Russians over the years? There are a lot more rights issues with Americans who play high school hockey.

And if you want to compare the success rate of Americans who play high school hockey to players from any of those countries I named, you are probably getting a better list of Americans who played high school hockey.

So while I do believe that in general Europeans get shafted with the draft and a few more per country should get drafted, there is not an issue with American high school players getting drafted. If we want to say that the visibility of players playing locally (USA and Canada) causes a few too many of them to get drafted compared to players lacking visibility in Europe, I agree, but your comment against American high school players and Ian Moore, in particular, makes little sense.
 
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SIMON NEMEC, D, 2022 ELIGIBLE

The second 2022-eligible, Simon Nemec is also spending his season in the Slovakia league, scoring once, adding three assists for four points in 13 games. Despite his age, he was a member of the 2019 Hlinka Gretzky Cup roster, so he has some experience against some of the players he’ll face in the World Juniors.
“Nemec plays with an impressive level of maturity and poise to his game that is rare to see among defenseman his age,” Eastern Canada scout Chris Smith said in a recent report.”And the fact he’s able to do it against men is just that much more appealing. He plays the game with his head up, quickly surveying the ice and is able to make quick outlet passes out of his zone to aid in transition or can skate himself out of trouble.”
 
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I don't think it's an outrageous statement. Nemec is a year and a half from being drafted, and is already playing in Slovakia's best mens league. It's not unprecedented that a player his age is a sure-fire top pairing defenseman.

However, I also think its probably too much of a hot-take at this point. Even at the point a player is drafted, you can usually only say a defenseman the caliber of Dahlin is a sure-thing top pairing defenseman. Even players like Drysdale, Byram, Seider probably didn't have that type of floor. I guess its possible that Nemec is in that same draft range in 2022 as the first few defenseman off the board in the last few drafts, but I think he'd need to be in a higher draft range that probably isn't even semi-realistic for that type of statement to have merit at this point.
That is problem. He is great prospect but judging his ceiling from playing in slovak league is simply wrong.
 
I personally don't think that quality of the league matters that much when you are a 16 years old playing against men. Might be wrong tho.
I think it matters alot, there are even 2 teams from Hungary and they are not the worst. That league is simply garbage, even EBEL is significantly better. I like Němec, but he should go somewhere else.
 
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Yeah, confusing post. You can judge a prospect from playing in QMJHL, but can't from playing in the Slovak league? What?

I think it matters alot, there are even 2 teams from Hungary and they are not the worst. That league is simply garbage, even EBEL is significantly better.
So what? Most kids play junior hockey that isn't even close to men's level, what the hell is this point.
 
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