The New Jersey Devils made the move many fans have been calling for most of this season. They parted ways with President of Hockey Operations and general manager Tom Fitzgerald. He was named interim GM in January 2020 and took over the role full time later that summer.
In the time between taking the job, getting a promotion, and then leaving the organization just a few games before the season ended, he made a ton of moves. He made 53 trades, 43 draft picks, and signed 126 contracts based on our count. That is a ton of activity for one GM, as Fitzgerald wasn’t shy in changing the roster.
However, some moves went absolutely terribly, and they are the reason the Devils are likely going to miss the playoffs in 2026. It’s definitely the reason why Tom Fitzgerald is looking for a new job on Monday.
5. Signing Jacob Markstrom to an extension
This one is at the end of the list because we don’t yet know its impact, but the signing was insane at the time and looks even worse now. The Devils re-signed their starting goaltender Jacob Markstrom to a two-year deal worth $6 million per season. There are a few reasons why this doesn’t make a ton of sense. For one, Markstrom had a terrible start to the season. They basically ignored that to sign Markstrom.
He’s also getting up there in age, making this a 35+ contract which comes with certain protections. They are signing their future to Markstrom and Jake Allen. On paper, it makes sense if they thought that Mikhail Yegorov would be ready by then, but it ignores how Markstrom has played up to this point.
This season, even with his most recent shutout, Markstrom’s numbers are near the bottom of the league for starting goaltenders. Many could argue that with a better starting goalie, Fitzgerald keeps his job. One move that won’t make this list because it’s not clear if it was ever on the table, but where would this team be if they gave up Dawson Mercer in Connor Hellebuyck talks?
4. Drafting Chase Stillman
There are plenty of bad draft picks under Tom Fitzgerald, but that happens with plenty of GMs. We were tempted to put the Alexander Holtz or Shakir Mukhamadullin picks on the list, but at least one had good thought process and the other got them Timo Meier. With Holtz, they really only lost out on Marco Rossi. Some might even point to Simon Nemec, who the Devils took second overall over Logan Cooley.
It doesn’t come close to the choice at the end of the first round in 2021. The Devils had two picks in the first round after trading Kyle Palmieri and Travis Zajac to the New York Islanders. With the first pick, they took Chase Stillman out of the Sudbury Wolves in the OHL.
Fitzgerald drafted him based on his motor. Which is fine, but he did it in the first round. This was a player expected to go in the third or fourth round. They Devils took him in the first round.
Meanwhile, the obvious pick at the time was Logan Stankoven. If the Devils had Stankoven on the roster this season, his 18 goals would be tied with Dawson Mercer for fifth on the team. Instead, he is contributing that to their rival, the Carolina Hurricanes.
3. Holding onto Sheldon Keefe
Sheldon Keefe was the right move on paper, so we can’t blame Tom Fitzgerald for signing him after he was forced to fire Lindy Ruff less than one year after giving him an extension. The issue was that Fitzgerald could not make a move on Keefe when it was clear something wasn’t clicking this season.
The Devils came down the stretch last season with not much motivation. They played terribly and basically got lucky to even make the playoffs after banking a ton of points early in the season. Then, they got trounced by the Carolina Hurricanes in five games. One could make excuses for Keefe, who was missing most of his defense and Jack Hughes in that series.
This season, there were injuries, but once players started coming back, there was a clear motivation problem. The team was flat for all of January and February. The schedule was brutal, so maybe they were tired, and Jack Hughes had a cast on his hand, but it was never more clear that a change was necessary.
And Fitz never made the change. The Devils left too many points on the table, and now a reset is coming in New Jersey. A similar inability to make a move on a coach lost Ray Shero his job, as he kept John Hynes in his seat for way too long when the season got away from them.
2. Tyler Toffoli trade
It took a while, but the Devils finally found the right player to pair with Jack Hughes. On paper, it made no sense. Tyler Toffoli was slow, but he could score, and he opened the door for Hughes to take chances. They scored together, and it was a match that just worked.
Then, instead of re-signing Toffoli, the Devils traded him during the 2024 NHL Trade Deadline. Fine, teams were getting insane returns for scoring forwards. So what did the Devils get for Toffoli after making him available in the final days before the deadline? They got a second-round pick and a third-round pick.
Then, to make matters worse, they essentially traded the same package later that day for Jake Allen. Allen has been good with the Devils, but they never got a chance to replace Toffoli. They didn’t use the pieces to replace Toffoli, and Hughes has been trying to get things done by himself for two years.
This season, it seems the Devils have finally found the right combination with Hughes, Jesper Bratt, and Connor Brown, but it took a long time for them to find chemistry. Instead, they could have just signed Toffoli away from the San Jose Sharks, where he’s been thriving again.
1. Quinn Hughes miss
Many might have an issue with a non-move being at the top of this list, but it’s the facts surrounding this situation that make it eligible. Fitzgerald has a history of being tentative in these negotiations. Since making the Timo Meier trade, he’s not fast on the trigger. That has him losing out on some trades, and finishing “second place” in others. The one that hurts the most is the Quinn Hughes trade.
This will be his legacy in New Jersey. He had a chance to get the second-best defenseman in the world, a player who wanted to come to the Garden State. His two brothers were already here, making an extension almost a formality. Yet, he fumbled, balked at the asking price, and the Devils watched Quinn go to Minnesota.
And the Devils are going to miss the playoffs because they failed to make that move. The eldest Hughes brother would have helped the team sustain while Jack Hughes got back to full strength. The team as a whole would have been much better on offense.
It’s a head scratcher and increasingly frustrating that the Devils couldn’t bring all three Hughes brothers together. It will continue to make no sense, and it’s why Fitzgerald is likely finding a new destination for his employment.