New Jersey Devils: Predicting Tom Fitzgerald’s Goals For This Season

Tom Fitzgerald’s Goal: Make A Huge Trade

Tom Fitzgerald is more open about his goals and desires to make the team better than other GMs around the league, but he’s still never going to come out and just say “I want to make a trade.” That would take away a lot of his leverage in negotiations. Still, internally, Fitzgerald has to have the goal to make a big trade.

There are a lot of teams in desperation mode right now. The Toronto Maple Leafs, Lightning, Montreal Canadiens, Chicago Blackhawks, and Vegas Golden Knights are all facing disastrous starts. There’s a chance they all might be willing to overpay to find a solution the Devils can help them with, or they might be in a position where they want to unload a player who doesn’t seem to be working. Either way, the Devils can take advantage.

There are also the superstar names the Devils might have targeted before the season but just didn’t work out. The name that seems to make the most sense is Vladimir Tarasenko. He has six points in five games including three goals. Doesn’t seem like the shoulder is bothering him too much to start the year.

There are other trades Fitzgerald at least discussed prior to the season. How far they went is anyone’s guess, but he knows which teams were willing to deal which players and for generally what price. He knows which phone calls to make if he wants to get a deal done.