The New Jersey Devils don’t even get to claim status as the most disappointing team in the league. The Toronto Maple Leafs, the former home of current head coach Sheldon Keefe, takes that award by far. Everyone in Toronto is expected to lose their job, but that might not be the case in New Jersey.
We’ve heard that Keefe might get replaced at the end of the season in search of a new head coach. Other reports say that Tom Fitzgerald’s seat is fire hot and he should dust up his resume, but the new GM would have Keefe in tow. Some even speculate that the Devils could blame this season on injuries and try this regime one more time.
We don’t hear a ton about the Devils tearing it down and starting from scratch. For the most part, the Devils believe they have the foundation in place, but they’ve run into some bad luck. Every year, there’s an excuse. And most years, we can argue it’s legitimate. Jack Hughes hasn’t had a healthy season since 2022-23. That year, the Devils were one of the best teams in the league, but they faced a hard situation with the Carolina Hurricanes in Round 2 on one day’s rest.
Every year after that, there was a laundry list of bad luck that caused the Devils to end near the bottom of the standings. However, luck can only take you so far when it comes to keeping your job.
Sheldon Keefe vs. Tom Fitzgerald: Who Should Stay and Who Should Go?
Ownership, which seems to mostly include David Blitzer at this point, has a hard decision to make this offseason. The Devils are not where they should be. They are progressively worse, and they are wasting Jack Hughes’s prime. Nico Hischier is a great captain. Jesper Bratt and Timo Meier are decent enough pieces to build around with good centers in place. They have some quality pieces on the edges, but there are mistakes up and down this roster.
The defense is one of the most expensive in the league after Fitzgerald waited until October 1st to sign Luke Hughes to a $9 million per year deal. It would make sense to sign him to such an insane contract without proving he earned it if the plan was to trade for Quinn Hughes, but Fitzgerald let the Minnesota Wild swoop in and take the eldest Hughes brother from him.
On top of that, there’s bad contracts to Johnny Kovacevic and Jacob Markstrom on the books for a long time. He’s burned himself by trade Tyler Toffoli and never finding a suitable replacement. His drafting has left much to be desired, and his free agency moves are mediocre, at best.
Still, the coaching hasn’t helped, either. Keefe has made some insane decisions this season, and his system is like oil and water for this roster. Up until recently, he wasn’t getting good transition numbers from the team. Zone exits and entries were way down from the Lindy Ruff era.
Keefe also has a penchant for throwing the players under the bus. He doesn’t do it all the time, but he does it enough that it’s become a narrative. That won’t last for a team this young and with this much bravado.
When looking at this situation as a whole, if the Devils had to choose, Fitzgerald seems like the most logical one to go. Heck, he might just jump over to the Nashville Predators job and take over for Barry Trotz. We’re not advocating for anyone to lose their job, but if the Devils want to play with this hypothetical, getting someone who can build the roster in a different direction makes the most sense.