The heart and soul of the 1994, 2000, and 2003 New Jersey Devils Stanely Cup winning teams was goaltending and defense. Yet, ever since the 2012 Finals loss to the LA Kings, New Jersey has undergone a horrific decay of that winning formula as they have only made the playoffs once since that run. However, drafting Simon Nemec should be one of the last pieces in rebuilding the Cup-winning defense.
It has been a very long time since anyone could say the New Jersey Devils were true playoff contenders. I would go so far as to say the last time a Devils roster was Stanley Cup competitive was their 2003 Cup win over the Anaheim Mighty Ducks. Yeah, the Mighty Ducks were still a thing the last time New Jersey won a cup. It’s been a while.
Even in the season where they made it all the way to the Stanley Cup Finals, they were only a 6th seed in the Eastern Conference. To put it simply, they got lucky back then.
And that luck has more than deserted them ever since.
Now, since 2012, every aspect of the Devils teams has had holes and weaknesses, especially these past few years. But nothing has been as bad as the New Jersey Devils’ defense.
For the past four seasons, the Devils’ defense has finished in the Bottom-10 in the NHL for GAA. And the past three seasons they have ranked in the Bottom-5 (with the 2019/20 season seeing them finish as the third-worst).
Even worse, last season Devils spent $9M on P.K. Subban, $9M on Douggie Hamilton, $4M on Damon Severson, and $3M on Ryan Graves to round out their Top-4 pairings. That’s $25M of their cap on a defense that allowed the fourth worst GAA (3.68) in the NHL.
Thankfully, Devils’ GM Tom Fitzgerald has already started rebuilding the Devils D-core. Having already inherited Ty Smith, Fitgerald has bolstered the Devils defense by further drafting Michigan star Luke Hughes, Russian phenom Shakir Mukhamadullin, and now the Slovakian wonderkid Simon Nemec.
It should be a great battle between Hughes and Nemec as to who will eventually become the better defender, though I would have to give the edge to Nemec right now.
Hughes had an impressive performance at Michigan last season, correcting many of the defensive awareness mistakes that plagued his game before being drafted. But he still has another year or two before he will be NHL ready. Nemec is ready now.
Coming out as one of the two unanimous best defensive prospects, Nemec already has fantastic puck skills, hockey IQ, and offensive and defensive awareness. Moreover, with him playing against grown men in Slovakia’s top league and in the 2022 Winter Olympics, he’s clearly already experienced the challenges of adjusting to professional men’s hockey. Due to that, I think he is already more developed than Hughes (for now) and should be one of the Devils Top-6 D-Men come next season.
When will he get his chance? I believe Nemec will find his way in the Devils lineup come the middle to end of next season, if not sooner. The more NHL experience he can get, the better.
Hopefully, for all Devils fans, he (and Luke Hughes) will be coming into a lineup with capable defensemen around him. I don’t know how many more years of this rebuild Devils fans can take.
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