The New Jersey Devils will have to cross their fingers that Simon Nemec is OK after the defenceman exited Slovakia’s Olympic qualifying tournament game against Hungary on Friday with an upper-body injury.
Tomas Prokop of Slovakia’s DennikSport reported that the team said nothing is broken or dislocated, but that Nemec will undergo more tests Saturday.
The team has not determined Nemec’s status for Sunday’s tourney finale against Kazakhstan. The winner of that game will get a 2026 Olympic spot.
Nemec went hard into the end boards while battling with Hungary’s Bence Horvath midway though the second period in Bratislava.
In obvious pain on the ice after the hit, Nemec eventually skated off and went back to the dressing room.
Nemec, 20, had three goals and 16 assists in 60 games last season in his rookie campaign.
The Devils picked Nemec second overall in the 2022 NHL Draft.