New Jersey Devils GM Provides Update on Absent Brett Pesce, Simon Nemec

NEWARK — One thing is for sure. New Jersey Devils defenseman Brett Pesce is in Newark. The new Devils defenseman participated in media day on Wednesday. The proof is quite literally in the pudding — taking a number of photos and posing for graphics for the team to use moving forward. However, Pesce was absent from the first day of on-ice activities. Devils general manager, Tom Fitzgerald, revealed Pesce is still not 100%.

The Devils knew that Pesce was injured before they signed him to a six-year contract. The 29-year-old defenseman fractured his fibula in the first-round of the 2024 Stanley Cup Playoffs against the New York Islanders.

Pesce’s season was done and he promptly had surgery on the lower-body injury he sustained. Still recovering from that surgery, Fitzgerald labeled Pesce as “week-to-week.”

“We all knew prior to signing him that [Pesce] had season ending surgery with Carolina,” Fitzgerald began. “And, he’s made great progress since he’s been in town, which our medical staff has done an incredible job with him. Everything looks great. It’s just the comfort-ness with the skate and getting your agility and working on those muscles. So I consider him, you know, week to week.”

It’s another wrinkle in the Devils’ seemingly never-ending injury saga.

The good news was that Fitzgerald said 20-year-old Simon Nemec is good to go moving forward.

“Yeah, that was a scary, scary Friday night,” Fitzgerald said of Nemec’s injury in the Team Slovakia Olympic qualifying game.

“That’s for sure. I watched that. He’s good. He’s good to go. When we get into an exhibition game, we will make that judgment with the medical staff on if we throw them right in on Sunday, or we wait a few extra days.”

It seems like by the time the regular season comes around, Nemec won’t be a question whatsoever.

So whereas the Nemec news is good news, it’s an extra sting to hear Pesce remains week-to-week, especially with Luke Hughes out until early November.

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