Šimon Nemec didn’t just land in Calgary this summer - he landed there looking for a reset.
The 22-year-old Slovak defenseman arrived with the Flames in a June 23 trade he welcomed, then locked in a life-changing five-year, $36.25 million extension less than three weeks later. For Nemec, the move wasn’t only about changing teams. It was about finding a place where he could grow into a bigger role.
“I was in a situation where not every team wanted to step in and say, ‘Yeah, let’s trade for him,'” Nemec said. “So I was really grateful to Calgary for doing that.
I think they gave up a lot, you can say, and I’d heard so many great things about Calgary. I’ve got my friends there.
So, I think it wasn’t a hard decision. We went pretty quick.”
Nemec’s path to that decision had already been building for months. After the Devils changed general managers in mid-April, with Sunny Mehta replacing Tom Fitzgerald, rumors swirled for two months before the deal came together and sent Nemec and Maxim Tsyplakov to Calgary for two first-round picks, a second-rounder and Étienne Morin.
Nemec said he had heard plenty of chatter about possible landing spots, but Calgary wasn’t one of them.
“It was crazy,” he said. “I expected something.
I won’t say I was pushing for a trade, but I was (saying), ‘If we can figure it out, this situation, better for me and probably for the team too (that would be best).’ Then the GM change and everything, I would say that we had great conversations with Sunny and, yeah, he decided to go another way and I’m totally fine with that.
“It’s kind of a little bit what I wanted. To just get a new opportunity somewhere. I would say Calgary, it’s going to be a perfect fit for me.”
That opportunity comes with real responsibility. Calgary has missed the playoffs for four straight seasons and is not expected to be in the postseason conversation until after its new rink opens in 2027-28. Nemec knows he’s stepping into a rebuild, but that’s part of the appeal.
He’s already got familiar faces around the organization in Samuel Honzek and Martin Pospíšil, and he’s been told there could be power-play and penalty-kill chances waiting for him. A top-pairing role isn’t out of the question either.
For Nemec, the measure of success won’t be points. It’ll be how he handles the workload and how his game holds up at both ends of the ice.
“I don’t really measure that with the points because we know that Calgary’s going to be in the rebuild,” Nemec said. “I just want to play my game and be more consistent and just improve my defensive game more.
I think I can do that and they can help me. We’ve already spoken about my good things on the ice and like not really good things.
We’ve got the time to work on that.”
He’s also trying to prepare for the challenge in a way that fits the moment. Nemec borrowed a page from Zdeno Chára’s training playbook and added more road cycling to his summer routine, even if the work has been brutal in the hills around his hometown of Liptovský Mikuláš in northern Slovakia.
“I started cycling more - road cycling,” Nemec told The Athletic during the NHL’s European Player Media Tour. “I know Zdeno Chára did it before, and it helped him to play bigger minutes. Just build an aerobic system and everything, so we used the bike a lot more than the years before.”
The rides have been no joke. Nemec said he has to monitor his heart rate and stay in Zone 2 for long stretches, but the grind can wear on him.
“I have to go with my heart rate,” Nemec explained of those workouts. “Just stay in Zone 2 for (90 minutes), two hours, then I’m starting to get bored.
Our sport is different. It’s like 30, 40 seconds (shifts) and then you go change.
And now you have to sit on the bike for like two-plus hours.
“I’m still not there. Maybe next year.”
After four seasons in the Devils organization - including one full year with the AHL’s Utica Comets - Nemec says the biggest takeaway is mental toughness. New Jersey gave him a lot, but it also gave him plenty of turbulence, from playoff runs to ugly seasons and back again.
“It was hard,” he said. “Obviously in New Jersey, our team was up and down.
We didn’t really play consistently every season. We were in the playoffs, then we were like one of the worst teams, then we were in the playoffs and again one of the worst teams in the league.
It wasn’t easy over there.
“I just got more mentally stronger and then be ready for every day because you never know what’s going to happen in the NHL. There’s never a perfect day with travel and everything, back-to-backs, so you just have to be ready for anything and be ready for that 60-minute game.”
Even the trade call itself caught him off guard. Mehta reached out about 20 minutes before the deal became official, and Nemec said the shock left him remembering very little of the conversation.
Now, though, the call is over, the contract is done, and Calgary is home. For Nemec, the new start is already underway.
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