Devils’ Simon Nemec placed on injured reserve
The New Jersey Devils will be without their promising young defenseman Simon Nemec for a little while longer at least, as they announced on Tuesday that the righty has been placed on injured reserve.
#NEWS: We've placed Simon Nemec (lower body) on Injured Reserve and recalled Nathan Légaré from Utica (AHL). He will join the team for today’s practice. nhl.com/devils/news/de…
Nemec, the No. 2 overall pick in the 2022 NHL Draft, was putting together the best season of his young career to this point. Through 31 games played, he already shattered his prior career high of three goals with seven, and he’s just one point away from matching his career high of 19, which he set as a rookie in 2023-24.
The imposing defenseman has not appeared in a game since he recorded a pair of assists against Tampa Bay on December 11.
In Nemec’s absence, the Devils’ defensive unit will consist of Jonas Siegenthaler and Dougie Hamilton on the top pairing, Brenden Dillon and Luke Hughes on the second and Dennis Cholowski and Colton White rounding out the group.
New Jersey continues to be plagued by injuries, as they are currently without star center Jack Hughes after he suffered a cut to his hand in an accident at a team dinner. On defense, Nemec joins Brett Pesce and Jonathan Kovacevic on IR, while Arseny Gritsyuk, Timo Meier, Evgenii Dadonov and Zack MacEwen are also banged up among the forward ranks.
In addition to placing Nemec on IR, the Devils recalled forward Nathan Legare from their AHL affiliate in Utica to add another option up front.
With all of the absences, the Devils have been on a slump, going 3-7-0 in their past 10 games. After starting the season rolling and atop the Metropolitan Division, they’ve fallen completely out of the playoff picture in the Eastern Conference for the time being.
New Jersey is back in action on Wednesday night in Vegas, and they’ll visit Utah on Friday night before returning home to Prudential Center to host Buffalo on Sunday.