Since being injured representing his native Slovakia, we haven’t heard much of an updated regarding New Jersey Devils defender Simon Nemec – and that’s a bad sign.
Injuries are an unfortunate part of hockey; we talk about that fact pretty regularly on this site. Any sport with physicality is bound to have some of its participants miss time from injury. But what about injuries during the off season? Well… those sadly can wind up happening too.
Which is exactly the case for the New Jersey Devils and Simon Nemec right now.
A couple of weeks back, Nemec was hurt playing in an Olympic qualifier for his home country of Slovakia. While the initial prognosis was positive, with resorts stating nothing was broken or dislocated, Nemec was still held out of the team’s next game. He would then return to Newark for the team to take their own look at him in preparation for the upcoming season.
And since then… well… we haven’t really heard anything.
Maybe I’m sounding an alarm here for no reason; maybe he really is fine as Initiative reports said. However, when a guy is held out of international competition and then brought in seemingly for another evaluation, wouldn’t you expect at least a confirmation of the original result? Wouldn’t you want the team to over communicate and affirm that he’s fine? I want to see Nemec ready to go for the start of training camp and the only way that happens is with a (at least mostly) clean bill of health. I don’t think he’s at a point right now, however, that the Devils feel comfortable putting him on the ice.
Maybe I’m wrong though; maybe the news is encouraging and the Devils are just waiting until their own practices begin to see how the shoulder holds up. Team doctors have probably had time to look at it, and could be looking at it as a non-issue. If that’s the case, great, but why not give the fans some comfort? A simple, “Nemec has been evaluated, he’s fine” post or message would be all that it takes to alleviate some of the concern. The Devils want to go into 2024-25 with as a healthy of a defense as possible, and Nemec looks set to be a big part of it.
So perhaps there is some cause for concern then; we have seen more and more in the NHL that injury news is kept vague. I’m not sure if it is to respect player privacy, or to not have opponents take advantage of previous injuries when players return, but nonetheless “upper body” or “lower body” injuries are often the classification. By not updating beyond the initial reports, this starts to look somewhat like the situation with Thatcher Demko in Vancouver and his injury. We don’t want this to bea situation where it looks like it just requires time, and then suddenly Nemec is undergoing surgery or he’s shut down for the season. Privacy is understandable but some transparency would be appreciated in knowing whether or not an important part of our team is okay.
To conclude, I think the possibility of jumping to conclusion here is strong; perhaps I’m reading too much into nothingness and making something out of it. Still, I’m not feeling encouraged by the lack of an update on Nemec with prospects beginning to report and veterans due next week. Maybe we will hear more this week; maybe we’ll see or not see Nemec among the groups when practices begin. I’m hoping for the best here, but with little to no information since the end of August, I’m not feeling encouraged here.
What are your thoughts on the Simon Nemec situation; do you think the Devils are playing it day by day to see if he’s ready for training camp? Do you think his injury is bad enough to have him miss some time and the Devils aren’t disclosing it until they have to? Is it maybe that the team feels confident the initial report was good enough? Are you worried about Nemec being ready for opening night? Leave any and all comments below and thanks as always for reading!