The ultimate offseason checklist for the New Jersey Devils
With a less-than-stellar 2023-24 campaign, the New Jersey Devils will look to regroup and bounce back next season, so the summer of 2024 will be pivotal.
Few teams in the NHL need a bounce-back 2024-25 campaign more than the New Jersey Devils, who seemingly took more than a few short steps back this season.
Heading into the 2023 offseason, it was easy to believe the Devils could end up battling the New York Rangers and Carolina Hurricanes for a top spot in the Metropolitan Division. Instead, they entered April just barely hanging onto their playoff hopes, and with Jack Hughes finished for the year, such hopes have extinguished.
But you can argue those hopes were gone when it became apparent former head coach Lindy Ruff wasn’t the right coach for this ailing hockey team. So, in a way, the season ended when they let him go in favor of Travis Green.
But Green’s record at the time of this writing, 7-10-1, inspired no hope in Devils fans that he would be the right guy for the 2024-25 season. The lack of success at one of the organization’s most important positions, however, wasn’t the only issue plaguing the Devils this year.
The pressure will be on Tom Fitzgerald to find the right personnel
While general manager Tom Fitzgerald won’t be going anywhere, it’s ultimately on him to navigate the Devils back in the right direction. Right now, there aren’t many fans in Newark and around the world supporting this team that has a ton of faith in the on-ice product, and that starts with the front office.
Fitzgerald must not miss on the head coaching search, and it’s paramount that he finds the right one with the potential to lead this team for at least the rest of the decade. He must also look for creative ways to improve the Devils defensively, which has become one of the worst in the league with 273 goals allowed after 79 games.
The prospects pool also needs constant upgrades because if Fitzgerald improves the factors mentioned above, there will be many ways in which he can use those playing elsewhere in the organization. Let’s dive deep into why finding the perfect coach, adding talent to improve the team defensively, and adding to the pipeline are so important this summer.
Find the right head coach
The right coach will at least take what is still one of the league’s 10 youngest teams closer to being the contenders they were in 2022-23. There are quite a few accomplished coaches who will be looking for work this offseason, and those either with experience leading teams to the Stanley Cup Final or at least a deep playoff run could be one of just a few missing ingredients for the Devils.
While Fitzgerald will undoubtedly upgrade the lineup this summer, failing to find the right coach likely won’t put this team in Cup contention, regardless of how much talent they have. We already saw what happened in 2023-24 when the Devils solid scoring units couldn’t compensate for poor play in the defensive zone, and you can expect the same result if Fitzgerald botches this.
Last season under Lindy Ruff, the Devils showed the potential that they could make a deep playoff run. That said, the new coach will be coming in with the expectation not just to return this team to the playoffs but also to become one of those final four teams in the East that will contend for a spot in the Conference Final.
The new face behind the bench must help the Devils get more proficient in all three zones, and they can’t have issues withstanding the immediate pressure that will come with the job.
Improve defensively and in the crease
Just as the wrong coaching hire will curtail the Devils ability to maximize their chances of making a serious playoff run, leaving the blue line and goaltending as is also won’t help this team. New Jersey may have traded for a pair of stopgap goaltenders, but bringing back Kaapo Kahkonen and Jake Allen and expecting one of them to factor in as a 1A would be risky - spoiler alert, Allen is most likely coming back, so Kahkonen needs to walk in free agency.
Likewise, Nico Daws and Akira Schmid - assuming they return to the organization this summer - also haven’t been the answers yet. Daws played just slightly better than the now-departed Vitek Vanecek, and you can say the same for Schmid.
Tom Fitzgerald must do everything he can to add a franchise-caliber goaltender this summer. One who would immediately put the Devils back into the playoff conversation when the preseason ultimately rolls around. But he must also look for either someone on the blue line or, if he thought it was more feasible, rolling with another defensive-oriented forward.
With a good deal of cap space entering the offseason, Fitzgerald could realistically add one goaltender, one defensive forward, and another blueliner. Addressing all three positions should give fans more peace of mind as the 2024-25 season nears, but as with the new coach, Fitzgerald must find talent who would fit into the system immediately.
Keep building the prospects pool
Last season, the Devils were a playoff-bound organization, and we can at least say they stuck around for most of 2023-24, even if they were rarely completely in the race. But this team is also talented enough to turn things around fast, and they are young enough to have the potential for long-term success.
Should that be the case, Fitzgerald not only needs to strike gold for each early draft pick he has coming up over the next few seasons; he must also keep his high-end prospects in the system. For the latter, it’s all about having a player in the lower leagues or overseas available to make that trade at a future deadline should the Devils be competitive.
Then there is the NHL Draft. While it’s tough to see the Devils landing the top pick for the upcoming lottery, it’s important now more than ever to keep the pool stocked with potentially game-changing talent. Doing so will give the Devils more leverage with trades, ideally starting in 2024-25. But if the right coach and players are in place, we could see this team becoming perennial buyers at future deadlines.
Stocking the prospects pool with high-end talent is the easiest way to ‘buy’ the right talent if they are in a position to add another piece or two to hopefully a winning organization. This doesn’t mean Fitzgerald needs to ‘sell’ every prospect - that would be reckless - but a strong pipeline plus a good hockey team could foreshadow a future blockbuster deal when it’s needed.
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