The New Jersey Devils need Simon Nemec to step up

The 21-year-old has struggled to find his footing after a solid rookie campaign.

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The New Jersey Devils have confirmed what was rumored: Jonas Siegenthaler underwent surgery during the 4 Nations break and won’t return anytime soon.

Head coach Sheldon Keefe noted that Siegenthaler will be re-evaluated in two to three weeks, at which point we’ll get a better idea on a timeline.

Siegenthaler’s absence for the foreseeable future means 1) the Devils will be without their best defender for an extended period and; 2) we’ll be seeing plenty of Simon Nemec.

It’s hard to put into words how big of a gap there is between the two players this season.

Siegenthaler has legitimately performed like one of the best defensive defensemen in the NHL. Check that, the best.

He is tied with Mikhail Sergachev for 30th among defensemen in net rating (+5.7) and his defensive rating slots him 1st.

As you’ll note, the top-10 is a who’s who of defensive defensemen almost exclusively made up of stout minute munchers on high-end teams.

Although, on paper, the Devils certainly have the depth to survive such an injury, they need more from the player filling the vacancy to do just that.

Nemec has played a pair of games since Siegenthaler went down and and posted alarmingly bad numbers (35 CF%, 26 xGF%), leading to a benching along the way.

Those metrics are unfortunately par for the course for Nemec this season. He has significantly hampered the Devils at both ends of the ice, with the team generating drastically fewer expected goals during his minutes while giving up a lot more in their own end.

Of the seven defensemen who’ve logged 100+ minutes for the Devils, Nemec ranks last in both categories by a country mile.

Taking it a step further, the xG gap between the Devils with and without Nemec on the ice is the 2nd largest drop in the NHL amongst 254 defensemen who’ve played at least 100 minutes. The company he’s keeping is horrific.