Cale Makar, Quinn Hughes, Miro Heiskanen, Roman Josi, and Rasmus Dahlin are some of the NHL’s best of the best defensemen. All play for their respective countries at the 2026 Winter Olympics, which make them some of the best blueliners in the world. And yet, through the preliminary rounds, none of them rank as the top defenseman in the offensive zone. That ranking goes to New Jersey Devils defenseman Simon Nemec.
That’s right. The 22-year-old blueliner taken second overall in the 2022 NHL Draft is proving to be an international phenom. It is, after all, one of the reason’s the Devils took him so high when he was just 18 years old.
Nemec showing out at the international level isn’t something new. He scored a goal and nine points in eight games at the U18 World Juniors in 2022 which propelled Slovakia to a gold medal.
He’s been a major contributor for Slovakia at all levels during internation play before the 2026 Winter Olympics, and is continuing down that path this winter.
Slovakia is the biggest surprise among winners in their group. Everyone expected Team USA and Team Canada to earn their byes. Finland was expected to perform well too. However, they weren’t expected to earn their bye as the best second place team in the tournament. That’s because Slovakia threw a wrench in theirs and Sweden’s plans by winning Group B.
A lot of the oxygen around Slovakia is rightfully taken by Montreal Canadiens forward Juraj Slafkovsky.
Three goals and three assists in three games for the 21-year-old Habs star will do that.
However, while Slafkovsky is dominating among forwards, Nemec is getting it done on the blueline.
His raw statistics don’t jump off the page like Slafkovsky’s with two assists in three games. However, according to JFresh vis HockeyStats, Nemec is the top defenseman at the Olympics creating chances.
Through three games in the prelims, Nemec averages two scoring chances created and 3.7 chance assists created for a total of 5.7 chance creations. That’s 1.4 more chances than the next leading creator (Dahlin) in the tournament.
And the most fascinating part about Nemec’s breakout at the Olympic level is the competition he had to cut through to make it happen. Sure, Slovakia downed Italy, but they had to get through Sweden and Finland as well, and Nemec had a lot to do with their success, and earning a bye to the quarterfinals.
Nemec is playing in top pair duties next to Washington Capitals defenseman, Martin Fehérváry. The Devils defenseman has taken on the responsibility as Slovakia’s No.1 blueliner, averaging 22 minutes of time on ice per game.
The Devils have to take some notes on how he’s been unlocked in Milan and apply them when Nemec gets back to New Jersey, ASAP.
