Devils 3, Rangers 2: Schmid shines again

Led by a standout performance from Akira Schmid, the Devils were able to grind out another win against the Rangers.

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The New Jersey Devils kept their perfect preseason record in tact on Thursday night, grinding out a win against a veteran-heavy New York Rangers team.

I have some thoughts (and charts!):

Simon Nemec was a mixed bag

Nemec put forth a roller coaster of a performance against the Rangers. There were certainly moments he looked like a quality NHL player. There were also moments he didn’t.

Let’s start with the good. Nemec made some fantastic plays with the puck on his stick. He navigated his way through pressure on a couple of breakouts, turning troubling situations into clean exits.

He was also a factor in the offensive zone. He activated to keep plays alive, he made a beautiful seam pass to Tyler Toffoli to help create a goal, and he was not shy about pulling the trigger when a shooting lane was there. With the puck, and in the offensive zone, he looked like somebody ready to play.

The same can’t be said about his defense. He was caught running around and hemmed in the defensive zone for extended periods on a few different occasions. It felt like every time the Devils were stuck in the DZ you’d zero in and see Nemec on the ice. He struggled marking players, battling below the dots and at times looked jittery.

As exciting as the offensive plays were, Nemec clearly has work to do off puck. He faced mostly NHLers last night and the holes in his game were evident.

I think Nemec has to play a lot cleaner if he’s really going to fight for a job. To me, that kind of performance is only going to lead credence to Tom Fitzgerald’s belief – as evident by the Colin Miller acquisition – that Nemec probably needs more time.

I think there’s a really good player in there. I’m just not sure he’s ready to come out yet.

Akira Schmid looked fantastic