Calle Makar, Quinn Hughes, Miro Heiskanen, Roman Josi and Rasmus Dahlin are some of the best defensemen in the NHL. All play for their respective countries in the 2026 Winter Olympics, making them among the best blueliners in the world. And yet, during the preliminary rounds, none of them rank as top defenders in the offensive zone. That ranking goes to New Jersey Devils defenseman Simon Nemec.
This is correct. The 22-year-old blueliner was taken second overall in the 2022 NHL Draft and is proving to be an international phenomenon. After all, there’s a reason why the devils took him so high when he was only 18 years old.
Nemec’s exposure at the international level is nothing new. He scored one goal and nine points in eight games at the U18 World Juniors in 2022, leading Slovakia to the gold medal.
He has been a major contributor for Slovakia at all levels during the international game leading up to the 2026 Winter Olympics, and he is continuing on that path this winter.
Slovakia was the biggest surprise among the winners of their group. Everyone expected Team USA and Team Canada to earn byes. A good performance was also expected from Finland. However, they were not expected to earn a bye as the best second-place team in the tournament. That’s because Slovakia ruined his and Sweden’s plans by winning Group B.
A lot of the oxygen around Slovakia is taken up by Montreal Canadiens forward Juraj Slafkovsky.
Three goals and three assists in three games will do that for the 21-year-old Habs star.
However, where Slafkowski has dominated among the forwards, Nemec has been doing the same on the blueline.
His raw stats don’t jump off the page like Slafkowski’s with two assists in three games. However, according to Jeffres Viz HockeyStats, Nemec is the top chance-creating defenseman in the Olympics.
Through three games in the prelims, Nemec created an average of two scoring chances and made 3.7 chance assists for a total of 5.7 chance creation. This is 1.4 more chances than the next leading creator (Dahlin) in the tournament.
And the most interesting thing about Nemec’s success at the Olympic level is the competition she had to go through to do so. Sure, Slovakia beat Italy, but they also had to overcome Sweden and Finland, and Nemec had a lot to contribute to their success and earning a bye into the quarterfinals.
Nemec has been playing top pairing duties next to Washington Capitals defenseman, Martin Fehrvary. The Devils defenseman has taken on the responsibility as Slovakia’s No. 1 blueliner, averaging 22 minutes on ice per game.
The Devils will need to take some notes on how he has been unlocked in Milan and apply them when Nemec gets back to New Jersey as soon as possible.
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