News broke on Monday evening regarding the dismissal of Tom Fitzgerald as the New Jersey Devils' GM and executive vice-president really didn’t come as much of a shock as most would have imagined. The writing was on the wall for the 57-year-old executive. The Devils became a lame-duck team this season. The Devils were one of the teams most pundits picked to make it out of the Metro Division.
That wasn’t the case.
Instead, the Devils sank to the bottom of the Eastern Conference standings. But this year’s mess wasn’t the sole reason for Fitzegerald’s decision. His firing is the result of one mess after another piling up.
Just look at Ondrej Palat’s contract. Fitzgerald signed the depth forward to a five-year deal in the 2022 offseason, hoping the former Tampa Bay Lightning could infuse some punch into the lineup.
That didn’t go well. In the end, the Devils paid the New York Islanders to take Palat off their hands. Then, there’s the Dougie Hamilton mess. Fitzgerald signed Hamilton to that massive contract, and then found himself unable to trade him.
Those are just two questionable moves. We could go down the list and look at Jacob Markstrom, Evgenii Dadonov, and even Nick Bjugstad.
Those moves are just some of the questionable maneuvers that factored into the Devils’ current situation. And because of those moves, the Devils found themselves hamstrung, unable to bring in reinforcement at the trade deadline due to the lack of cap space.
But there’s another move that likely influenced Monday’s decision
Sheldon Keefe hung over the Devils and Fitzgerald
Fitzgerald made a coaching change ahead of last season, bringing in the recently canned Sheldon Keefe. In his first season, it seemed that things were heading in the right direction. The Devils were a playoff team, claiming third spot in the Metro Division.
The first-round exit at the hands of the Carolina Hurricanes stung, but it was an encouraging step forward.
That next step didn’t materialize this season. The Devils have gone from 91 points to 83. Even if they got back to 91, that won’t be close enough to a playoff spot.
That situation has led to questions about replacing Keefe. Whether or not that happens, that’s another story entirely. But what is clear is that Keefe is on Fitzgerald.
To make matters worse, Lindy Ruff, the coach Fitzgerald fired ahead of hiring Keefe, has gone on to blossom in Buffalo, of all places. Ruff returned to his former stomping grounds and turned the Sabres from a laughingstock into one of the NHL’s best teams.
The decision to fire Fitzgerald was not news to anyone paying attention. If anything, he was a dead man walking following this year’s trade deadline.
The Devils will now need to figure out who could replace him. That situation won’t be easy, particularly with the Nashville Predators and Toronto Maple Leafs also looking to fill their GM vacancies.
It will be an interesting offseason for the Devils as they have so much riding on the line. And another rebuild is completely out of the question.