New Jersey Devils: 5 Players Tom Fitzgerald Luckily Avoided

Torey Krug

Many thought Tom Fitzgerald would make a big splash in the summer/fall of 2020. He was just officially hired for the job after the front office did an extensive search to see if there was someone better (there clearly wasn’t). He just surprised many by hiring Lindy Ruff as head coach despite interviewing Gerald Gallant and Peter Laviolette. The thought was he’d make a desperate move to fix this defense, and this was the year to make a splash in free agency.

Alex Pietrangelo was the clear top guy, but he was unrealistic for a still-rebuilding Devils team. Behind him was Torey Krug, Kevin Shattenkirk, T.J. Brodie, and Chris Tanev. The Devils instead signed Sami Vatanen. The big signing was Corey Crawford, who decided to retire instead of play one second on this team.

Krug made the most sense of that group if the Devils wanted to make a splash. He had a ton of value, and the Devils needed a left-handed defenseman to pair with Subban and Damon Severson.

However, Krug has been pretty bad since signing to be Pietrangelo’s replacement. He had 40+ points in six-straight seasons with the Bruins before signing. He hasn’t had that once in St. Louis in four years. The Devils avoided a major issue here.