It was 13 years ago now that New Jersey Devils fans saw this team go on a run to the Stanley Cup Finals in 2012, but they ultimately did not win. Since then, the Devils went through a rebuild, trying to find a new identity. They've had three GMs in those 13 years, and not a single one has managed to make the Devils into a consistent team.
Lou Lamoriello was at the end of his rope in New Jersey, and Ray Shero had a decent run, getting the Devils to the playoffs in the 2017-18 season and giving some fans hope, which ultimately went nowhere. Now, here comes our 3rd GM, Tom Fitzgerald. For the past five years, Fitzgerald has tried to do anything to form a great Devils team, but all the decision-making he has done hasn't worked.
There's no point in going over every decision Fitzgerald has made, but many of his decisions have led this franchise astray.
Trading Blake Coleman Away
While the 2019-20 New Jersey Devils season was bad, it did have a huge bright spot. Blake Coleman was one of the best Devils on that team. Coleman had a great season with 31 points before he was sent to Tampa. Despite that, the Devils that year were going nowhere. The team had already fired their head coach, John Hynes, and traded their star, Taylor Hall, and now, Tom Fitzgerald was taking over a team looking to gain assets for its pieces.
One of the pieces that the Devils should’ve probably kept around was Coleman. Unfortunately, Fitzgerald traded Coleman away to the Tampa Bay Lighting eight days before the trade deadline, and all they got back was forward Nolan Foote and a conditional 1st-round pick. When the conditional 1st-round pick became Vancouver’s pick in the 2020 NHL Draft, the Devils used that pick to draft defenseman Shakir Mukhamadulin.
While Blake Coleman only played two seasons with the Tampa Bay Lighting, his trade to the Calgary Flames in the 2021 offseason showcased how botched this trade was. Coleman has been excellent for the Flames, as in his current season, he has 30 points, arguably becoming one of the better players there.
As for Nolan Foote, he has been a disaster. Foote was having trouble adjusting to the NHL life, suffering a couple of injuries, and while he would sign a contract earlier this year, he hasn’t gotten called up to the NHL during the season. While Mukhamadulin would bring a lot of hype, he would be part of the big blockbuster trade to bring in Timo Meier, which in his case hasn’t worked out that well yet, but it’s still early in the contract. If Coleman had stayed, he probably would’ve provided one big offensive push that this current Devils team lacks.