We’re continuing out prospect profiles by talking about the brother of New Jersey Devil and former 2nd overall selection, Simon Nemec.
Adam Nemec
Position: Left Wing
Shoots: Left
Height: 6’0″
Weight: 176lbs
This one is a little hopeful on my part, as Adam is generally ranked around the late 1st to mid 2nd round in terms of where he’ll be drafted. With any luck he’ll tumble a few spots so that the Leafs can nab him with the Sabres selection. With that said, a lot of these rankings aren’t updated monthly and it’s his performance in 2026 that may land Nemec even higher on draft day.
Nemec joined the Sudbury Wolves in January, after producing 3G and 15pts in 28 games for Nitra MHC in the top Slovakian men’s league. With the Wolves he scored 14G and 35pts in 31 games played, while adding another 2 assists in 4 playoff games. He finished 5th overall on the Wolves in scoring and should factor into their leadership group next season. Scoring at above a PPG certainly helped his draft stock. If he had played the entire season in Canada he may be slated to go a little higher than he is at the moment.
Nemec displays a mature game, which could land him a spot anywhere on an NHL lineup. He’s responsible defensively, is very effective on the backcheck and forecheck due to his solid speed, can be a nuisance to play against in puck battles and makes the most of his opportunities around the net. He likely projects to be a middle six winger that kills penalties, while bringing some physical energy to a lineup and if I were to compare him to a former Leaf it may be Ondrej Kase, who brought a similar game. You’d just have to hope that he avoids injury more effectively than Kase did.
The knock on Nemec is that he’s good at just about everything, but he isn’t great at any one thing in particular. His skill level with the puck needs to improve, as does his skating agility. Due to this his ceiling isn’t as high as some of the players around him in the draft. He’s a complementary player with a solid foundation, rather than a potential high end scorer or defender. Around this time at the draft it’s natural for teams to continue to swing for the fences, which may prevent him from going higher than he’d like. However, that could be beneficial to the Leafs if they see a player that projects well as a future NHLer, even if it’s unlikely that he’ll ever be a top line scorer.