The San Jose Sharks
Since Tom Fitzgerald took over as General Manager, the Devils and Sharks have made a total of six trades with each other. All of different degrees of importance.
The first trade between the two had the Devils send Nick Merkley, of the Taylor Hall trade, for Christian Jaros. Another deal was a simple pick swap at the 2024 draft. Thomas Bordeleau, coming to New Jersey for Shane Bowers, was the most recent deal, happening one day after July 1st.
Two out of the remaining three trades involved goalies. The first one sent Mackenzie Blackwood to San Jose for a sixth-round pick. The Devils used that pick to select Cole Brown, and the Sharks flipped Blackwood to Colorado. The second goalie trade involved the Devils sending Vitek Vanecek and a draft pick for Kappo Kahkonen. The Sharks also flipped Vanecek, this time to Florida.
The last trade is the biggest trade Tom Fitzgerald has ever made. It is of course, the Timo Meier deal.
The Devils sent Andreas Johnsson, Shakir Mukhamadullin, Nikita Okhotyuk, Fabian Zetterlund, a first-round pick, a second-round pick, and a seventh-round pick to San Jose. The Devils acquired Meier, Zachary Emond, Scott Harrington, Santeri Hatakka, Timur Ibragimov, and a fifth round pick.
Meier is still with the Devils, while none of the other players are with the organization anymore. The Sharks flipped Zetterlund in a shocking move at this past trade deadline. Okhotyuk went back to Russia, Johnsson is not in the NHL anymore either, while Mukhamadullin is still in the Sharks pipeline. The Sharks used the first on Quinten Musty.
While the deal might have been massive at the time, as it currently stands, it is Meier for Mukhamadullin and Musty. Not a bad piece of business for Fitzgerald. There definitely seems to be a pattern in whom Fitzgerald deals with.
Mike Grier is his favorite trade partner. Could we see another deal involving the two teams this summer with the Sharks having plenty of cap space and the Devils needing to get rid of some money? Could we see Fitzgerald make a trade with an organization he has yet to make one with?
It is going to be a fascinating summer to find out. Either way, Devils fans need to be patient. If they want to see anything in the stars, all they have to do is look at this list. NHL General Managers are very predictable.