The New Jersey Devils are among the NHL’s most injured teams at this stage of the 2025-26 campaign, and their bad luck with injuries is only set to continue. Team reporter Amanda Stein relayed word today from Devils practice that defenseman Simon Nemec will be out until at least the holiday break.
Head coach Sheldon Keefe said, per Stein, that the team will have a better idea of Nemec’s recovery in two weeks, and will be able to determine what the next step is for him at that point. Nemec suffered a lower-body injury during practice on Friday and has missed back-to-back games for the Devils.
This development throws a bit of a wrench into what has been a breakout campaign for Nemec, the 2022 No. 2 overall pick. Nemec was a dynamic prospect during his draft year and played quite well at the AHL level, but took a little bit longer than some of his peers from his draft class to find his footing at the NHL level. 
While the other top-five picks from the 2022 draft (Montreal’s Juraj Slafkovsky, Utah’s Logan Cooley, Seattle’s Shane Wright, and Anaheim’s Cutter Gauthier) had each managed to break into the NHL and establish themselves in meaningful scoring roles in 2023-24 and 2024-25, Nemec’s NHL role appeared to decline after his rookie campaign.
He skated in 60 NHL games in 2023-24, but only got into 27 games at the NHL level in 2024-25. His total of AHL games played consequently rose from 13 to 34 year-over-year.
While Nemec was spending most of last season back in the AHL, Slafkovsky was putting together his second consecutive 50-point season, Cooley was emerging as a star in Utah, and both Wright and Gauthier managed solid 44-point rookie campaigns.
Fans naturally compared Nemec to his peers from that draft class, and many considered his level of progress, which appeared slower than his peers, to be a matter of concern. But that level of concern wasn’t entirely fair, as defensemen often take a little longer than forwards to come into their own at the NHL level.
It could have hardly come as a surprise to Devils management, for example, that Nemec wouldn’t have his NHL breakout at exactly the same time as the forwards drafted near him. And so far in 2025-26, all Nemec has done is put together the same kind of breakout campaign his peers managed last year.
Nemec has 18 points through 31 games this season, a 48-point full-season pace. He’s been the Devils’ No. 3 defenseman in terms of ice time this season, and is also finding his way onto the team’s power play despite the presence of Dougie Hamilton and Luke Hughes already on the Devils’ roster.
In other words, the Nemec the Devils have received this season has been exactly the kind of dynamic, two-way force the team believed they’d get when they invested the No. 2 overall pick in him. That’s what makes Nemec’s new injury such an unfortunate development, as it puts a halt on Nemec’s breakout season for at least the next two weeks.
Thankfully for New Jersey, while they’re losing Nemec to a new injury, a key veteran right-shot defenseman appears to be nearing a return from injury: Brett Pesce. Stein reported today that Pesce participated in Devils practice and will travel with the team for their upcoming road trip. While Pesce, 31, doesn’t offer the same level of offensive ability Nemec brings to the table, he does offer a shutdown element to his game that this current Devils lineup is badly missing.
Pesce led all Devils blueliners in time-on-ice per game last season and his quality performances as a defensive defenseman more than made up for the Devils’ hefty investment in him. Pesce is under contract at a $5.5MM AAV through 2029-30, and his imminent return should soften the blow of losing Nemec and allow the Devils to remain competitive in what has been a hotly contested Metropolitan Division playoff race.
Photos courtesy Ed Mulholland-Imagn Images
Pesce is the #1 piece we’ve been missing. Yes, Jack but since Pesce has been gone the while D corp has seemed confused