New Jersey Devils GM Tom Fitzgerald has not gotten a lot right with his additions over the last several offseasons, but, in fairness, has nailed a few, too. The most important one right now is a free agent signing who came aboard just this past summer.
Signed to a very team-friendly four-year, $12 million ($3 million AAV) contract on July 1, former Edmonton Oilers forward Connor Brown has very quietly been amongst the Devils' best forwards this season, brief injury notwithstanding.
Brown, 31, brings speed in spades to an already fast Devils team, but his production has been there as well. Through his first 28 games in New Jersey, Brown has nine goals, six assists, and 15 points, and could very well best his previous career-highs of 20 goals and 43 points, respectively, if he can maintain this scoring pace and perhaps further expand his role.
Injuries have, of course, decimated the Devils all year long, but it would be a treat to see Brown feature with a healthy Jack Hughes for an extended period of time at some point.
The 6-foot speedster has built a solid rapport with teammates Arseniy Gritsyuk and Cody Glass on the third line early on in his Devils career, but it would be fair to wonder how Brown and Gritsyuk would look playing next to Hughes with the way they've been performing.
From there, the Devils could opt to move players like Jesper Bratt and Dawson Mercer up or down in the lineup to spread the scoring wealth.
This is all to say, though, that these possibilities aren't possible if Fitzgerald hadn't doubled down on his team-building philosophy and didn't stick to his guns on the open market.
Ondrej Palat and Paul Cotter have not returned all that much on the investments made in them, and the recent Jacob Markstrom contract extension isn't looking too hot right now, either, but, while Fitzgerald still has a ton of work to do sitting on a warming seat, he fully deserves credit for nailing the Brown signing.