New Jersey Devils President and GM Tom Fitzgerald and head coach Sheldon Keefe held their end-of-season press conference on Thursday. There wasn't a ton of new information coming out. We learned a little about the injuries that impacted the team and the expectations of the team moving forward. Fitzgerald also made an eye-opening point about depth scoring.
He also made an interesting point about upcoming unrestricted free agent defenseman Brian Dumoulin. Fitzgerald traded a ton for him, sending the Anaheim Ducks a second-round pick and interesting prospect Herman Traff for Dumoulin's services near the NHL Trade Deadline. It was immediately panned, but the trade ended up meaning more than we'd ever expect.
The Devils were decimated by injuries going into the playoffs, and it only got worse. Dougie Hamilton came back literally one game before the playoffs began. Jonas Siegenthaler only came back in the middle of their series with the Carolina Hurricanes because the Devils were desperate. During the series, Johnny Kovacevic, Brenden Dillon, and Luke Hughes all went down and never came back.
That had Dumoulin literally holding down the fort on the blue line. At the end of the five-game series, Dumoulin played an insane 29 minutes per game. That led all Devils skaters. He finished the season with a 37-minute and 19-second performance in Game 5, which ended up being a double-overtime loss for the Devils.
With news that the Devils will likely be missing Kovacevic to start next season, and they could be without Brenden Dillon as well, many thought that re-signging Dumoulin might be on the table. However, the way Fitzgerald put it in his press conference, it sounds like his confidence level on that is low.
Brian Dumoulin played his heart out for the New Jersey Devils, but it's likely a one-time thing
"Never say never" is not the most motivating statement when it comes to a good player who is currently on your roster. Dumoulin is a veteran, and teams will want him on the roster. Fitzgerald continued to say it would probably be a signing after the initial burst of signings happen on July 1st. Nobody should expect Dumoulin to last very long in free agency after his playoff performance.
We can't blame Fitzgerald, per se. He has to make major inroads on the forward group who hurt the Devils this season. They need depth and impact. And unfortunately, that means a luxury like adding another defenseman is not in the cards.