One of the primary storylines to come out of the NHL Trade Deadline last week was Tom Fitzgerald not pulling the trigger on any trades. Fitzgerald was reportedly shopping every defenseman on the roster not named Luke Hughes or Brett Pesce, but he ultimately decided to hold on to all of the Devils blueliners.
That list of blueliners the Devils opted to hold on to includes the former 2nd overall pick Simon Nemec.
By now, you know what the situation is with Nemec. Nemec is finishing up his ELC this season
and is due a new contract over the summer. Nemec recently switched agents. Nemec has a history of voicing his displeasure about his placement and usage on the Devils roster. According to Pierre LeBrun, Nemec reportedly is looking for a deal similar to the one Luke Hughes signed despite having less than half the counting stats and worse advanced stats. Nemec spent most of last season in Utica and has been a healthy scratch at times this season.
The Devils created a logjam at the NHL level at RHD when they traded for Johnathan Kovacevic from the Canadiens. Kovacevic beat out Nemec for the third pairing job in training camp last season. The Devils rewarded Kovacevic with a five year contract extension shortly before the trade deadline last year. With Brett Pesce and Dougie Hamilton already signed long-term, somebody had to be the odd man out. Except nobody was.
The Devils, in the aftermath of the Jack Hughes injury in the week leading up to the trade deadline last season, opted to hold on to their defensemen. With Kovacevic suffering a significant lower-body injury in the postseason, the Devils opted to hold on to their defensemen over the summer. Kovacevic is now back, and while he hasn’t played well since returning, he is playing.
Knowing that continuing to keep seven NHL defensemen on the roster is no longer sustainable, Fitzgerald has limited options when it comes to moving defensemen. He’s not moving Pesce or Hughes. If you believe what he said last week, he’s not shopping Hamilton. Maybe that changes this summer once his bonus is paid out and the actual dollars remaining on his deal are $6.25M over the final two years, but with a 10-team trade list, you still have to find a willing partner with the cap space to take him on. Kovacevic has a full NTC through next season and is playing poorly. Brenden Dillon’s NTC becomes a 10-team no-trade list on July 1. Jonas Siegenthaler already has a 10-team no-trade list. Fitzgerald, who handed out all of these contracts and no-trade clauses like Halloween candy, doesn’t have a lot of options to turn to. Except for one.
He could trade Simon Nemec, who is due for a new contract, doesn’t have trade protection, and doesn’t have arbitration rights. This might wind up being THE move, especially if he anticipates another grind of a contract negotiation over the summer.
But should he trade Nemec?
The Argument For Trading Nemec
I’m not necessarily advocating for trading away Nemec, but I think its important to consider both sides of the argument here.
What we heard in the leadup to the deadline was that the Devils were hoping to acquire a “young, impact” top-six forward. Pierre LeBrun went as far as to say they’ll only do it if they get a “1st-line type forward, specifically a center”
That line alone is interesting, but not surprising. Center is a premium position. Wingers are not. Nico Hischier is entering a contract year. His status with the Devils beyond next season is uncertain. Jack Hughes has been injured far too often. He’s also coming off of an Olympic tournament where he had success playing on the wing. Getting another top six center would be incredibly proactive just in case Hischier decides to leave, but it also gives the Devils more options whether or not Hischier stays and whether or not Jack Hughes suffers another injury. It’s a better plan than “just move Dawson Mercer to center”. And worst case scenario, the Devils are now Colorado or Florida levels of deep down the middle. That’s not a bad thing.
It’s hard to find difference-making centers and the Devils really only have two assets to try to find one if they so choose. They could use their first round pick this year on one if they like the prospect enough. Or they could try to trade Simon Nemec for one.
The problem with trading Nemec for that type of player is that teams that have that type of player are going to keep them for themselves. They’re going to build around young-impact top-six forwards. They’re especially going to keep those players if they can play center. The Devils aren’t going to be able to flip Nemec for Macklin Celebrini, or Leo Carlsson, or Adam Fantilli, or Logan Cooley. They’re also not going to flip Nemec to get a player like Beckett Sennecke or whatever young winger you have on your wishlist. These teams are also right to think that and to want to hold on to those types of players
If they’re going to trade Nemec for that type of forward, it probably has to be a player in a similar situation to Nemec where they’re frustrated with their situation, there’s some flaws with the player, the team is in a precarious position and might be desperate for assets, and/or you’re betting a chance of scenery will get the most out of the player you’re acquiring.
So what are your options realistically?
Jordan Kyrou is a name that has been out there for trade. He’s listed as a center but he’s really more of a scoring winger. He’s having a down year, but that could be a byproduct of the Blues being a dreadful team. He’s also going to be 28 on Opening Night. I wouldn’t consider him to be ‘young’ by NHL standards. That’s not to say I wouldn’t want to trade for Kyrou, but I don’t think I’m making Simon Nemec the centerpiece of that type of deal if I do choose to go down that road. I’d be looking to trade picks or other assets to do that.
Elliotte Friedman speculated recently on his 32 Thoughts podcast that a Simon Nemec for Matthew Knies deal could make sense. Knies will be 24 in October, and he would add much needed size and physicality to the Devils Top Six. He’s not a center, and he is signed through 2031 at $7.75M AAV. Granted, I’m not sure why Toronto would move Knies, but the Leafs lack assets of their own and its just as hard to find good young RHD as it is centers.
Other than that though, I’m not sure where you’re going for that type of player. Maybe the Flyers want out of the Matvei Michkov business given his usage this season but I don’t see the two division rivals connecting on a trade of that magnitude. Maybe the Kraken want to move on from Shane Wright but I don’t know if he’ll become that type of player you’d be hoping to get. I will say that I wouldn’t trade Nemec just to trade him, and I wouldn’t trade him for futures because I don’t think that does anything for the Devils.
Nemec might not be as valuable as he was four years ago when he went #2 overall. Frankly, if he played better, we probably wouldn’t be having the conversation at all because keeping Nemec would be a no-brainer. But this isn’t the Alex Holtz situation either where he can’t crack the lineup and the Devils sold Holtz for 30 cents on the dollar before it became apparent he couldn’t play. Nemec is playing nearly 20 minutes a night. He’s still a young right-handed defensemen, which is another premium position. If there’s any doubt how valuable RHD are, go look at the returns bad ones like Tyler Myers fetched at the deadline. Aside from the 2026 first round pick, the Devils most valuable trade chip among their prospects is probably Simon Nemec.
If they could turn him into that type of difference-making, top-six player, I’m certainly open to suggestions. But I don’t think they can, nor do I trust Tom Fitzgerald to swing that sort of deal.
The Argument For Keeping Nemec
Good, young, right-handed defensemen are incredibly difficult to find. And simply put, the Devils shouldn’t be in the business of giving one away.
Obviously, Nemec has had his struggles this year. That’s to be expected as he’s still on his ELC and isn’t close to 200 NHL games played yet. But he has also shown flashes of brilliance this year. He probably has the best shot on the team among defensemen, a list that includes Dougie Hamilton. He has shown a clutch gene, which isn’t nothing. He’s the rare type where he seems to play better the more minutes he gets as opposed to being sheltered. He had a strong Olympic tournament playing in a best-on-best format.
The Devils do have to consider the future of their blueline though. Hamilton is 32 years old. Pesce is 31. Kovacevic is 28. The Devils don’t really have another RHD in the organization with the upside that Nemec has, and I’m including Seamus Casey in the conversation when I say that. With all due respect, Casey isn’t Nemec. Guys like Viktor Hurtig, Charlie Leddy, Mikael Diotte, Sigge Holmgren, and Artem Barabosha are fine depth pieces to have in the organization but there’s a long way to go before we ever see any of those guys in the NHL, if we ever see them at all.
That’s not to say the Devils don’t wind up addressing the RHD position in a significant manner at this year’s draft. We don’t know what they’ll do when they’re on the clock, whenever they’ll pick. But just because they address the position in the draft doesn’t mean they’re going to move on from Nemec.
What Should the Devils Do?
I can say with certainty that if I were in charge, the first thing I’m doing is I’m not letting Tom Fitzgerald make this decision. He and the rest of the Devils braintrust can go on their merry way as far as I’m concerned.
That said, if it were up to me, I’m not moving Simon Nemec. For a few reasons.
One, I don’t think the Devils can get the type of player they’re thinking (or more realistically, hoping) they can get by dangling Nemec on the open market. I think the best they could do is the 2024 David Jiricek trade…..no, not the one from last week for Bobby Brink. The one with all of the draft picks. And I’m not really interested in a futures-heavy return like that, even knowing that picks are ammunition for potential future trades. That trade isn’t making the 2026-27 Devils any better than the 2025-26 team.
Two, I don’t think a potentially difficult contract negotiation is reason enough to move on from a player that you once thought highly enough of to draft #2 overall. Nemec’s agent can ask for the sun, the moon, and the stars, but at the end of the day, he doesn’t have arbitration rights. Fitzgerald, or whoever the Devils GM, would be smart to take a page from the late Ray Shero on this one. Nemec’s camp can threaten to play hardball or go to the KHL, but at the end of the day, the Devils hold his rights. If he wants to play in the NHL, it will be in New Jersey unless the Devils decide otherwise. For now, anyways.
Three, I’m not moving Nemec because I still believe in the player at the end of the day. Just because he’s not worth the Luke Hughes contract doesn’t mean they should just give up on him. Put him in a position to succeed by playing him, let him learn from his mistakes, let him figure out what he needs to improve on over the summer like you would any other young player, and go from there.
The Devils might have a logjam on the blueline, but trading Nemec to clean that up isn’t the answer. I get their options might be limited due to the Kovacevic NTC, Hamilton’s AAV and trade protection, and their lack of desire to move Pesce, but that’s the situation Fitzgerald created with the Kovacevic contract extension. If it was up to me, I’m exhausting every option to trade Hamilton and using the return I get from him and the cap space to add to the forward group. And if I can’t do that, I’m exhausting even more options by moving Dillon or Siegenthaler and playing Pesce off-hand. Not that I love the idea of playing Pesce off-hand, but its something the Devils have done this season.
I won’t go as far as to say that trading Nemec is a non-starter. The Devils should be open to ideas to making the team better. But I don’t think trading Nemec accomplishes much towards reaching that goal unless they can land that young top-six forward, and I’m skeptical that player is out there and attainable in this instance.
