James Nichols
We’re three day’s away from the 2026 NHL Trade Deadline. The New Jersey Devils are in a precarious situation where they are likely to miss the playoffs after a disappointing 2025-26 season that held high expectations. Heading into Friday’s deadline, it appears defenseman Simon Nemec is generating Devils trade interest.
According to NHL Insider, Pierre Lebrun, “Going to be interesting to see what happens on the Simon Nemec front. Devils are taking calls on the second overall pick from ’22. No shortage of teams checking in. New Jersey happy to keep him, but if there’s a deal that upgrades their forwards in a real way, they’re going to listen…”
Nemec improved his stock greatly this season, scoring a handful of clutch goals to either send New Jersey to overtime, or win a game in the extra frame.
He then went to the Olympics where he played top-pair, No.1 defenseman minutes for Slovakia, and thrived in his role helping Slovakia nearly medal, and surprisingly rank fourth in the tournament.
General manager Tom Fitzgerald has been open about wanting to add a forward. The Devils continue to seek a top-line solution to play alongside Jack Hughes and Jesper Bratt.
“I’d like to add up front. I want to continue to give more depth,” Fitzgerald said in January. “I think the entire league is probably looking for the same thing. You can figure it out. But you know, that hasn’t changed since two summers ago. We tried to add last deadline. When you’re trying to add you just, you identify those areas and put your nose to the grindstone and work.”
Dougie Hamilton‘s is another name on the Devils trade block. He’s generated plenty of interest, however, moving off his $9 million cap hit has proven to be difficult, especially with his $7.4 million bonus due on July 1.
It appears the Devils are pivoting to the path of least resistance with a plethora of defenseman at their disposal, but perhaps one too many with trade protection.
We’ll see what happens between now and Friday.
