New Jersey Devils General Manager Tom Fitzgerald stood before his peers at the NHL’s GM meetings this week not as an executive but as a father whose family endured every hockey parent’s worst nightmare.
In an emotional presentation, Fitzgerald recounted the harrowing night of December 28, 2024, when his son, Hartford Wolf Pack defenseman Casey Fitzgerald, narrowly avoided tragedy after a skate blade sliced his neck during an AHL game. Though Casey survived, the injury required emergency surgery and 25 stitches. And it also left Tom Fitzgerald and his wife paralyzed with fear as they watched it unfold on a phone screen, uncertain if their son would survive.
As reported by TSN’s Pierre LeBrun, Fitzgerald’s story underscored the urgent need for the NHL to address its lack of a stance on cut-resistant protective equipment. Fitzgerald’s plea wasn’t just about his son; it was a rallying cry for the league to prioritize safety over tradition.
As Fitzgerald told Kristen Shilton of ESPN:
"We're very lucky. But why the players don't think big picture versus just, it's about [their] career today? If they ever thought of their parents watching what we watched, they'd think differently."Tom Fitzgerald
The message to the league comes some 15 months after 29-year-former NHL player Adam Johnson died on the ice after a skate blade severed his carotid artery during a game in England’s Elite Ice Hockey League. Johnson’s death sparked global calls for mandatory neck guards and other cut-resistant gear, prompting leagues like the AHL, ECHL, and USA Hockey to enact mandates requiring them. That mandate could be what saved Casey Fitzgerald’s life, as the injury could have been even worse if he hadn’t been wearing his AHL-mandated Kevlar neck guard.
The NHL, however, hasn't enacted a similar mandate on this equipment, leaving the choice of whether to wear it to its players—a policy Fitzgerald spoke about his desire to challenge.
New Jersey Devils could consider a mandate to wear neck guards to protect its players
Fitzgerald, who is the only GM on the NHL’s cut-resistant equipment committee formed in 2023, revealed he’s considering unilaterally mandating neck guards and other protective gear for Devils players, even without league-wide rules. This move would likely face resistance from the NHL Players’ Association (NHLPA), which has avoided endorsing mandates, citing player preference. Yet Fitzgerald’s stance is clear: the risk of inaction is too grave.
While cut-resistant gear can’t guarantee absolute safety, studies show it significantly reduces the severity of lacerations.
Critics may dismiss Fitzgerald’s mandate as overreaching, but history vindicates safety reforms. The Devils, under Fitzgerald’s leadership, have an opportunity to blaze a trail that will have a positive impact for decades to come. The NHL once resisted helmets (mandated in 1979) and visors (required for new players in 2013), yet both are now an afterthought, while preventing many serious injuries. And the counter-vailing excuses for non-adoption of this equipment are simply not strong enough to outweigh the massive risks of being wrong.
Shilton quoted Tampa Bay GM Julien BriseBois saying, "Neck guards at the NHL level are a little more challenging. Most of the argument is heat.”
Yes, players might grumble about comfort or that the neck guards are too hot to wear, but even a several-seasons-long adjustment period is worth the price to avoid the irreversible cost of a life lost. We all know that if an NHL player died on the ice during an NHL game because of one of these injuries, the equipment would be mandated immediately—so why not do it now before one of those injuries occurs?
In the best-case scenario, Tom Fitzgerald’s emotional speech at the GM meetings will be a catalyst. Hockey will always carry risk, but no parent should have to see their child suffer a near-death experience or die because of something that is easily preventable.
By mandating cut-resistant gear, the Devils can honor Adam Johnson’s memory while pressuring the NHL to finally lead the charge and push for a league-wide mandate. The Devils—and the league—should choose courage over complacency.