New Jersey Devils Add Tom Fitzgerald To Bench; What Does It Mean?
By Nick Villano
The New Jersey Devils added assistant GM Tom Fitzgerald as an assistant coach to John Hynes staff. This seems like an odd move for an employee with so many jobs already.
Tom Fitzgerald was already the man with many jobs for the New Jersey Devils. He was the assistant GM directly under Ray Shero for the NHL team. He’s the general manager of the Binghamton Devils as they try to make their first run to the playoffs in their new city.
Fitzgerald is also the executive vice president of the Devils. That means he’s working with all matters related to hockey operations, including negotiating contracts, dealing with the developmental staff and any possible transactions. That seems like a really important role right this second.
Right now, the Devils are likely looking to trade for a defenseman, work out a major contract extension for Taylor Hall and trying to develop really young players like Jesper Boqvist and Jack Hughes. This is probably the busiest time of Tom Fitzgerald’s year as the Devils do their best to dig themselves out of a 0-4-2 hole. Yet, he’s added a very demanding role to his resume.
Well, that’s an interesting turn of events. The Devils are sending the GM’s right hand man down from the offices of the Prudential Center and down on the ice. Shero has made this move before, sending Fitzgerald down to help coach when he fired Michel Therrien and named Dan Bylsma head coach. He spent the season there, one that led to the Pittsburgh Penguins winning the Stanley Cup.
That was a completely different situation. This was a coach Shero was trying out, and it obviously worked. This was also ten years ago. Fitzgerald’s role was much, much different then. He wasn’t juggling a thousand roles, then just put his most demanding on top of it.
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What’s really strange is head coach John Hynes says he asked for this. Really? Who asks for their boss to come down and help them do a job they’ve been doing for five years? Is all this talent too much for Hynes, or is this something he suggested because Shero said he needs to do something drastic? The only thing I could think of is Shero asked for one of his assistants’ head, and this was a compromise. Maybe it’s not, and this is literally Hynes asking for help with all this new talent, but it seems like a strange move for the head coach.
Shero spoke today saying that he wouldn’t give Hynes a vote of confidence only because he doesn’t believe in that kind of thing. He says the coach is safe for now, but who knows. If he loses to the Rangers and Canucks his safety net may fall into the ocean.
There are significant questions surrounding this move that we have yet to get answers for. For now, we know this means something is brewing behind the bench. Is Hynes still the prevailing voice? If he is, what if Fitzgerald disagrees with a move by Alain Nasreddine? Who wins out on that? Fitzgerald has the ear of the man in charge of the entire organization. Is another assistant coach really going to outdo him?
There’s a lot happening here. The Devils are making a move behind the bench that matters. Fitzgerald being there means something, even if we haven’t figured out exactly what it is.