{"id":287279,"date":"2025-11-12T14:46:09","date_gmt":"2025-11-12T14:46:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/287279\/"},"modified":"2025-11-12T14:46:09","modified_gmt":"2025-11-12T14:46:09","slug":"devils-islanders-discussed-simon-nemec-trade","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/287279\/","title":{"rendered":"Devils, Islanders Discussed Simon Nemec Trade"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Devils and Islanders had preliminary discussions over the offseason regarding a trade that would have sent former No. 2 overall pick\u00a0Simon Nemec<\/a>\u00a0to Long Island, according to a report from The Athletic\u2019s Arthur Staple on Daily Faceoff\u2019s \u201cTri-State Hockey Podcast.<\/a>\u201d Staple clarified that those talks were initiated from the Isles\u2019 side, not necessarily because New Jersey was expressly shopping the defender.<\/p>\n

The fact that the Islanders would have interest in a right-shot defender with top-pairing potential in the early stages of their retool is unsurprising. The fact that a trade didn\u2019t materialize between cross-state, divisional rivals is equally as unsurprising. Nemec, a 6\u20191\u2033 21-year-old, was drafted in 2022 ahead of\u00a0Logan Cooley<\/a>, Cutter Gauthier<\/a>, and Shane Wright<\/a> in the top five but hasn\u2019t nearly clicked at the NHL level to the degree they have. He had a strong rookie showing in 2023-24, when an injury to Dougie Hamilton<\/a> allowed Nemec to make 60 appearances while averaging nearly 20 minutes per game. He recorded 19 points (three goals, 16 assists), posted a -7 rating, and led the team with 105 blocks.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s a fine stat line for a rearguard in his 19-year-old season who was always seen as a bit of a project in a weaker draft class. However, his development since then hasn\u2019t been linear. Nemec lost ice time last season after the Devils added veterans\u00a0Brenden Dillon<\/a>,\u00a0Johnathan Kovacevic<\/a>, and\u00a0Brett Pesce<\/a>\u00a0to insulate their blue line. He ended up playing more with AHL Utica than he did with the Devils, where his usage dipped to 14:59 per game across 27 appearances. When dressed, he was more of a liability than a non-factor. He had just four points with a -10 rating despite playing sheltered offensive minutes at 5-on-5. He started 64.6% of his shifts in the offensive zone but controlled just 44.3% of shot attempts.<\/p>\n

Even with those struggles, the Devils made clear at last season\u2019s trade deadline<\/a> that he wasn\u2019t someone they intended to move. It would have taken an above-market-value offer to move him, something the Islanders didn\u2019t provide. Staple speculated\u00a0that their offer started with the Avalanche\u2019s 2026 first-round pick, which they had previously acquired for\u00a0Brock Nelson<\/a> at last season\u2019s trade deadline. With that expected to fall in the 20-and-below range, that\u2019s not a particularly compelling piece on its own and likely would have needed to be paired with an impact roster player, at least, to get a deal across the finish line. New Jersey\u2019s cap crunch would have made that a non-starter.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s unclear when these talks occurred in relation to the draft, but it is of little consequence. The Islanders still have Scott Mayfield<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Ryan Pulock<\/a>\u00a0signed long-term on the right side, but their organizational depth behind them is extremely light. Tony DeAngelo<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Adam Boqvist<\/a>\u00a0are rostered on expiring deals as stopgap solutions, and their only right-shot options in the minors are veterans\u00a0Ethan Bear<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Cole McWard<\/a>. Their two top defense prospects behind\u00a0Matthew Schaefer<\/a>,\u00a0Kashawn Aitcheson\u00a0and\u00a0Isaiah George<\/a> are both lefties. Changing that is likely one of general manager\u00a0Mathieu Darche<\/a>\u2019s more pressing priorities next summer.<\/p>\n

As for the Devils, they\u2019re likely feeling justified in their decision to hold onto Nemec. An injury to Pesce has once again afforded Nemec expanded ice time to start the season. He\u2019s appeared in all 16 games and leads their blue line in scoring with a goal and eight assists for nine points, adding a +1 rating and 26 blocks. His 17:47 average time on ice is still lacking compared to his rookie season, but that\u2019s because he\u2019s not factoring in on either special teams unit \u2013 making his point production all the more impressive.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Devils and Islanders had preliminary discussions over the offseason regarding a trade that would have sent former…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":287280,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[66],"tags":[4822,394,385,27814,99],"class_list":{"0":"post-287279","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nhl","8":"tag-new-jersey-devils","9":"tag-new-york-islanders","10":"tag-nhl","11":"tag-simon-nemec","12":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/287279","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=287279"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/287279\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/287280"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=287279"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=287279"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=287279"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}