The New Jersey Devils made moves this season to make sure what happened last season never happens again (at least in this era). After a fantastic 2022-23 season where the team broke multiple franchise records, it was the exact opposite last season. The Devils were basically never in the playoffs, they had to fire Lindy Ruff, and the roster was injured to a point of almost impossibility.
This offseason, Tom Fitzgerald was not going to sit and wait to see if this was just bad luck or an overcorrection by the universe. He shook up the roster and coaching staff. There was a clear focus on size and toughness this offseason.
We are going to rank Fitzgerald's moves by the most important towards winning in 2024-25 to the least important. We aren't evaluating the deals signed, the term, how they impact the roster moving forward or the deal that, say, Dawson Mercer might sign. We're also focusing on everything that's happened since the hiring of Sheldon Keefe, so no Kurtis MacDermid deal or any of the other re-signings in May. So, let's get started with the one move that will have the largest impact in the near future.
1. Devils trade Kevin Bahl, first-round pick for Jacob Markstrom
Anyone who saw the state of the New Jersey Devils goaltending last season knows how important it was to this team. They just weren't getting anything from Vitek Vanecek or Akira Schmid (or any of the other goalies they tried until the trade deadline). Fitz tried to do something at the deadline, trading for Jake Allen and Kaapo Kahkonen (sending away Vanecek in the latter), but it was too little, way too late. They traded for Jacob Markstrom, sending a relative premium price compared to other deals. Markstrom has amazing stats and should be a major upgrade in net,