New Jersey Devils Add Tom Fitzgerald To Coaching Conundrum
It’s been a refreshing situation reading that New Jersey Devils Assistant General Manager Tom Fitzgerald is now serving a sizable role as a Devils assistant coach. The structure of the team has been nearly absent. GM Ray Shero has made it known that the veteran players need to step it up, but having Fitzgerald behind the bench also means a lot more variables are occurring.
The way the ship has been blown in the wrong direction, it is time that Shero’s right hand man oversees the chaos on the bench and begin assessing how guys like Rick Kowalsky, Alain Nasreddine, and head coach John Hynes are coaching. It seems the Devils fanbase has turned on Hynes. On the flip side some are awaiting to see how long this will ride out. On the contrary, with Fitzgerald now help running the ship he’s all eyes and ears for Devils Shero.
Any sort of screw ups from any of the coaches will now come with consequences. The veterans on this team look like they are both lost and under coached. After four-plus seasons, it is absolutely a time for change. The power play has been so abysmal that even the most casual of fans scratch their heads.
Another thing that has been put into consideration is why on earth would Hynes play guys like Kevin Rooney, Miles Wood, and John Hayden over guys like a very skilled Jesper Boqvist. There are so many situations that even the most die-hard fans can’t comprehend because Hynes throws Hughes onto the 3rd line and Zajac on the 2nd line, as an example. If Fitzgerald can help Ray Shero buy time to find a replacement coach and assistants there will be a lot of players to be held accountable too. There were even moments in the past where Shero fired Michel Therrien from Pittsburgh and found Dan Bylsma.
It seems that the new coaches that Shero and Hynes find need to bring a similar style of forechecking and neutral zone defense that is classic Devils hockey. One of the ideal candidates for head coach could be Guy Boucher. Boucher when he was with Tampa Bay and Ottawa having made it to the playoffs with really stacked teams he was able to finish second in the East 11-7 in the 2011 playoffs with Tampa Bay. With Ottawa in the 2017 playoffs, the Senators went 11-8 falling one goal short of a Stanley Cup Final run.
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Knowing that Guy Boucher is a trap styled coach is the kinda coach that suits the New Jersey Devils DNA. Not many coaches have that more frequent use of that defensive structure, but this would increase productivity on defense and create offense. Also having Scott Stevens as an assistant coach provides the knowledge every player from defensemen to forwards will look up to. Scott has proven both as a player and an assistant on the Devils without some physical defense, and smart defensive coverage you can’t win.
Sure these are just a few names to throw around but to an extent it makes a lot of sense to try something else versus Hynes and the other assistant coaches. Tom Fitzgerald and Ray Shero have a service to provide and that is getting this team a new coaching staff that inspires winning, defense, creativity, stability, and chemistry.