Simon Nemec Emerging as Devils’ Standout in Eventful Season Start

New Jersey Devils defenseman Simon Nemec has excelled amid injuries, scoring crucial goals in recent weeks. ​

His play has kept the Devils competitive and atop the Metropolitan Division going into Thanksgiving. ​

Nemec’s rise began in 2022 when the Devils drafted him No. 2 overall. ​He was the highest drafted Slovakia-born defenseman and the first defenseman chosen that year. ​

More recently, he has been on a hot streak. Nemec recorded a hat trick on November 12 against the Chicago Blackhawks. He became the eighth defenseman in NHL history to score a regular-season hat trick with an OT goal. He was also the youngest to do so, at 21. ​

On November 10, he tied the game against the Islanders with five seconds left. ​

On Wednesday, he scored 2:58 into overtime to defeat St. Louis. ​Nemec is the eighth defenseman in Devils/Colorado Rockies history with multiple overtime goals in one season. ​

In his three years with the Devils, Nemec has scored a total of 10 goals and 27 assists. This season alone, 23 games in, he has five goals and nine assists. He currently sits seventh on the team in goals scored and points this season, and sixth in assists. ​

The six-foot-one defenseman has stepped up while star forwards are out.

​Nemec is in the final year of his three-year $2.75 million entry-level contract with the team. In the first 24 games, the young defenseman has made an early impact on the injured Devils lineup.

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