The New Jersey Devils are riding high after beating the Toronto Maple Leafs in the shootout on Wednesday night. That was their third win in a row, and it at least had the Devils counting their playoff chances (which are still incredibly small). The wins are nice, but what’s happening around the league might be considered a loss.
As of this writing, Mackenzie Weager and Tyler Myers were both traded for huge returns (relative to what we thought they’d demand). Weager got the Calgary Flames three second-round picks, Olli Maatta, and prospect Jonathan Castagna from the Utah Mammoth. Myers got the Vancouver Canucks a second- and fourth-round pick. Those are decent returns.
Are Myers and Weager good comparisons for what the Devils are offering on the market? To be honest, they aren’t bad comparisons. However, that’s not where the real loss lies for New Jersey.
The issue here is that Utah and Dallas were two teams that were directly tied to Dougie Hamilton. Nobody knows if Hamilton had those two teams on his no-trade list, but those situations can be worked out.
Two teams that needed defensemen now have them, and they are likely out of the trade market when it comes to defensemen. With the Devils trying to offload Hamilton, Johnny Kovacevic, Brenden Dillon, and/or Simon Nemec, the team would have been happy with either of those deals.
Now, two major players are no longer available.
This reminds us of the mistakes of the Tom Fitzgerald regime. For years, the Devils have had very clear issues. Whether it’s the goalie issue in 2023-24 or the 5v5 offense last season, Fitzgerald didn’t get them in time, and when they did come, it was too little, too late.
In 2024, he added Jake Allen and Kaapo Kahkonen. Those were both good additions in a vacuum, but they came at a time when the season was over. The same goes for last season when Fitzgerald traded for Cody Glass and Brian Dumoulin. Both were fine additions, even if he overpaid for Dumoulin, but they didn’t move the needle for a team that needed a bigger addition with Jack Hughes out for the season.
Tom Fitzgerald has been often late to act to save the New Jersey Devils season
Even this season, Fitzgerald had a chance to make the big move by acquiring Quinn Hughes at a time when the season was swirling. Jack Hughes was out again, but he was close to returning. Adding the second-best defenseman in the league would have changed the trajectory of this team, and we still think they’d be in a playoff spot today.
Instead, the Devils are staring down another lost season. It will be another wasted season of Jack Hughes’s prime. It’s the last season before they have to re-sign Nico Hischier.
It’s clear that the Devils are sellers, and they have quality pieces they can sell. Unfortunately, while other teams pull the trigger and get big returns, the Devils wait for the “perfect” deal. Fitzgerald needs to put his chips on the table and stop being patient. Patience is why the team is missing the playoffs again.