The Calgary Flames have spent the offseason remaking their blue line, and Simon Nemec is right at the center of that overhaul. Along with Carson Carels, he gives Calgary another high-end young piece on the back end, and the group now includes three former top-10 picks: Nemec, selected second overall in 2022; Parekh, taken ninth in 2024; and Carels, who went sixth this year.
Nemec arrives after a breakout year with the New Jersey Devils, when he put up 11 goals and 15 assists in 68 games and also represented Slovakia at the Olympics. The 22-year-old right-shot defender has already locked in a five-year extension with a $7.25 million AAV, and the expectation is that he’ll step into a much larger role in Calgary next season.
That’s the backdrop for this week’s Sunday Census, where Flames fans were asked to project Nemec’s first season in Calgary.
The biggest chunk of voters landed on 30-40 points, with almost half of respondents choosing that range. Add in the more aggressive group that picked 40+ points, and more than 80% of fans see a career year coming. That kind of optimism makes sense given Nemec’s offensive profile and the way he finished last season in New Jersey, where he became one of the Devils’ more dependable blue liners and averaged 19:40 of ice time while scoring three overtime winners.
The 40+ crowd is betting on a real leap. Over a third of voters think Nemec will sail past his previous career high of 26 points and hit that mark in his first year with the Flames. At 22, he’s still right on the edge of his prime, and last season seemed to sharpen his confidence as he handled bigger responsibilities for both the Devils and Slovakia.
The 20-30 point range drew 15% of the vote, with those fans apparently expecting Calgary’s offensive issues to keep Nemec from fully cashing in on his own skill set. Fewer than 5% of voters think he’ll finish below 20 points.
However the scoring shakes out, Nemec is set to look very different in Calgary than he did in New Jersey. He should get top-pairing minutes, likely work on PP1, and bring another layer of offense to a blue line that already looks far more dangerous with Carels in the mix. For a Flames team trying to build something young and dynamic, that’s a pretty strong place to start.
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Flames Prospect Theo Stockselius Just Gave Fans A Real Debate
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Behind Backlund, the club appears to have a few familiar names positioned to help carry the room, including Jonathan Huberdeau, Joel Farabee, Kevin Bahl and Zach Whitecloud. Calgary may also need to keep an eye on how the group evolves as the roster changes around it, with Ryan Strome and Jacob Middleton among the players who could become part of that next layer of leadership if the young core keeps growing and the depth chart keeps shifting. [Read more 🡒]
Flames Fans Just Got An Early Read On Maceo Phillips
Maceo Phillips gave Flames fans a useful early look at his development path this week, signing a WHL Scholarship & Development Agreement that will send him to the Medicine Hat Tigers next season. For Calgary, it is another reminder that the organizations prospect pipeline is still taking shape in real time, with Phillips choosing one more year of junior hockey before moving on to the University of Minnesota.
The same round of news also included some movement elsewhere in the prospect world, with former Maple Leafs prospect Dmitry Ovchinnikov landing a tryout contract with HK Sochi in the KHL. And while Vancouvers Dmitri Ivchenko locked in a longer stay with Avangard Omsk, Phillips decision is the one that matters most to the Flames right now, because it gives the club and its fans a clearer sense of where he will be playing and how his next step is being mapped out. [Read more 🡒]