With the New Jersey Devils still not making the progress as a team that most have desired, should there be a new voice making decisions to improve the team this summer?
In January of 2020, Tom Fitzgerald took over as Interim General Manager of the New Jersey Devils, a title that would see the interim tag removed from it roughly six months later. At that same time, he was also promoted to President of Hockey Operations, giving him the ability to shape the team how he saw fit. Since then, the team has returned to the playoffs twice in 2023 and 2025. Both times, they were eliminated by the Carolina Hurricanes, in the second and first round respectively.
After the 2023 elimination and a missed 204 postseason, Fitzgerald changed course moving the team away from an almost completely speed/skill focused squad to add some more toughness and grit. While it paid dividends early in 2024-25, the slowdown of the group was apparent in 2025 and ultimately seen as the reason why the Devils couldn’t keep up with certain teams, including the Canes.
So with another offseason upon us, the team needs adjustments again in hopes of making it further in the playoffs, with the eventual goal of another Stanley Cup. But should Tom Fitzgerald be the one allowed to make those changes? While ownership has shown no indication that they’re willing to move on from hi, I think there’s too many strikes against Fitz to allow him to try and improve this team once again.
Strike One: Personnel Decisions
While he’s made a lot of great moves to help this team, Fitzgerald has also made some baffling personnel decisions that led to the dearth of the depth in the Bottom 6. We’ve beaten the Kurtis MacDermid signing to death, but it’s still relevant here. Fitz got Paul Cotter and brought Tomas Tatar back, but aside from early season Cotter, neither guy was all that impactful. He also didn’t bother to upgrade upon guys like Curtis Lazar (who fell off a cliff this year), Erik Haula (also off a cliff) and Nate Bastian, who may be an okay defender, but is an absolute offensive black hole.
Add in the lack of trade deadline acquisitions along with the mistake acquisitions of Dennis Cholowski and Daniel Sprong, and it seems like maybe Fitz has lost some of his improving touch. Maybe it’s not recognizing the types of players that Sheldon Keefe needs. I would speculate about it coming from management, but I don’t think the guys Tom went out and got are moving the needle for them either. Keefe was left without a lot of (any?) depth when the injuries piled up, and I’m not sure I trust Fitzgerald to fix it without blowing through future assets in a way that will come back to bite the franchise. Speaking of which…
Strike Two: Subpar Asset Management
After the trade deadline, there was concern over the attitude of Fitzgerald regarding the lack of improvement to the Devils. John even wrote about it and how good GMs find ways to improve their teams. Overall, or at least prior to last offseason, I think Fitz was actually doing a really good job with his trades. However, it does seem that for more than a few of them, he’s given up at least one piece that he shouldn’t have needed to. And after this season, I’m viewing him in the light of one of those GMs who gets taken advantage of in trades by other GMs around the league into giving up more than he should or needs to.
While a contending team should be willing to part with assets to “win now” the Devils are parting with more assets than they should be. There still has to be prospects coming through the pipeline, and the Devils don’t have a strong enough pipeline right now that they can be frivolously moving assets. Case in point number one is the Brian Dumoulin trade. This move was so bad, it was voted the Worst In-Season Move by the Devils in our end of season awards. While he may have played better in the postseason than in the regular season, I still don’t think he performed well enough for anyone to want him back next year. Yet Fitzgerald gave up both a second round pick and a recent prospect.
I’m also going to make a (possibly controversial) statement and say he also gave up too much in the trade for Jacob Markstrom. Regardless of how you feel about the need for Markstrom or whether he was the guy you wanted or not, Fitz still gave up too much. I know first round picks are rolls of he dice, and 18th overall selections don’t always pan out, but why give up that and Kevin Bahl for a guy that Calgary was ready to move on from? Not because of his play, but the team had arguably one of the most NHL ready goaltending prospects in Dustin Wolf ready to go. Factoring in cap hits and age, Calgary was ready to go with a Wolf/Dan Vladar pairing.
Can we know this for sure? No, fans evaluate things differently than NHL executives, and even though Calgary and general NHL fans felt Wolf was ready, again, the people in charge may have felt differently. However, based on the fact that the Flames went in that direction after moving Markstrom means there was probably some indicator out there that they were heading in this direction anyhow.
Do I need to mention giving up an asset for a player he could have had for free (Sprong) on waivers again? Didn’t think so. The fact that this man could be the one to move Simon Nemec or Seamus Casey for help in other areas has me scared for how underwhelming the return could be if he goes through with it.
Strike Three? (Overall Decision Making)
Maybe there isn’t a solid third strike against Fitzgerald yet, but there has to be concern about his decision making overall. I’m not sure Tom has a clear vision for what the New Jersey Devils are trying to be on the ice. One season or poor goaltending led to an overcorrection, moving away from speed and skill to more grit and toughness. The Devils can’t afford to overcorrect again, as I wrote about a couple of weeks ago, as that will just lead them further in the wrong direction.
I’m not sure that Fitz is about to be let go; regardless of if I want to see it happen or not (at this point, I feel like I do), I think there’s some heat under his seat. If the Devils continue to underperform their expectations, that loses the team revenue. If revenue continues to decline, management personnel get changed to move the team in a different direction. Tom Fitzgerald is probably looking at his last summer and last chance to get marked improvement out of the New Jersey Devils.
Even though I think that with his track record, maybe he shouldn’t be given that chance.
Your Take
Now I’d like to hear from you regarding Tim Fitzgerald attempting to improve the Devils this summer. Should he be allowed to remain in position to do it? Would you be worried about him frivolously giving away extra assets that could be used to improve other aspects of the team again? Is he even on the hot seat for you, or are you still happy with the job he’s doing? Leave any and all comments below and thanks as always for reading!