It is no secret that the New Jersey Devils have been struggling mightily since the Christmas Break came to an end. The Devils record is 7-9-3 after the break, which is a 73-point pace. Before that, the Devils had a record of 23-11-3, a 109-point pace. What changed? Injuries to Erik Haula, Jacob Markstrom, and Nico Hischier did not help at all.
The main reason for the Devils' collapse has been the lack of depth scoring. The bottom six has simply stopped being effective. Paul Cotter started out very hot before slumping. He has five goals since the Christmas break. The rest of the bottom role players have combined for just three goals since the break.
Stefan Noesen and Tomas Tatar have two goals. Nate Bastian has one. Curtis Lazar, Justin Dowling, Kurtis MacDermid, Brian Halonen, and Haula have combined for zero. That is eight players that have chipped in five goals in almost two months. Halonen and Haula have seen very limited action, but the point still remains.
The Devils' need is clear and must be addressed before yet another season in the Jack Hughes and Hischier era is lost. So, why has nothing been done? While seemingly every team within the Metropolitan Division makes moves, the Devils have had Justin Dowling as their third-line center for a while now.
For Devils fans, this should not come as a surprise as this is not the first time a situation like this has happened. In his five years as general manager, there have been more than a few occasions where Fitzgerald did absolutely nothing, and a season was lost.
In the 2021-22 season, the New Jersey Devils had a goalie issue. With Mackenzie Blackwood and Jonathan Bernier being the suspected tandem going into the year, both Blackwood and Bernier had issues of their own. The Devils had a third-string goalie in Scott Wedgewood, but they put him on waivers to bring back an injured Blackwood. However, the Devils knew Bernier was one bad move away from being hurt again. Arizona claimed Wedgewood.
Bernier, sure enough, got hurt, Blackwood was on and off again injury-wise, and Nico Daws was called up way too early. It was clear the Devils needed a goalie. They got Jon Gillies from the St. Louis Blues, but it was clear the Devils needed a long-term solution in net. The Devils continued to falter, becoming another easy win for opponents. It wasn't until the trade deadline the Devils made another move for a goalie. Acquiring Andrew Hammond in a move Fitzgerald said he thought was "owed" to the team.
Losing Wedgewood on waivers is more on Fitzgerald's poor asset management skills than his inactivity. In the same breathe, when the activity makes the team worse, it makes the sting of sitting on your hands even worse that you could not come up with a better move than Gillies or Hammond.
The next season, after making moves he needed to make, Fitzgerald's Devils made the playoffs and got to the second round. Lindy Ruff's contract expired and the Devils had a decision to make. Keep Ruff, who had one good season, or potentially promote assistant coach Andrew Brunette as the next head coach.
Now, Fitzgerald cannot be faulted for keeping Ruff, who had just set the franchise record for points in a season. However, this was the only success Ruff found here and it seemed to be more the emergence of Hughes, Jesper Bratt, and solid goaltending that got the Devils over the hump rather than Ruff. The Devils decided to keep Ruff, and Brunette was swiftly hired by Nashville.
The Devils 2023-24 season completely fell apart. The Devils found themselves on the outside looking in while expectations were sky-high. A team with Stanley Cup aspirations continued to lose. It was mid-December when it was clear that Ruff's message was stale and the team needed to move on. Fitzgerald once again sat and waited.
While Brunette saw immediate success in Nashville, the Devils waited to fire Ruff until the beginning of March well after the Devils' season was surely lost. Travis Green was named interim and the team somehow got worse.
Tom Fitzgerald has been too patient in the past, and it's burned the Devils
The other reason why last season fell apart, aside from Ruff, was the goaltending once again. The Devils clearly needed a goalie as Vanecek and Akira Schmid turned into pumpkins. Fitzgerald waited until the trade deadline to make a move for Jake Allen and Kappo Kahkonen. It was reported that the Devils were close to making a trade for Jacob Markstrom, but Flames management did not want to retain the salary the Devils wanted them to.
Instead of waiting for the Flames to sign off on a trade, the Devils could have moved on to other prospects to fill the net. Allen and Kahkonen were okay, but the season was already lost.
This season, the need is once again clear. The Devils cannot wait to make a move to bolster their bottom six. The Devils cannot get by with just Hughes and Bratt. Timo Meier has been good lately, but he seems to be the only one consistently producing. After another embarrassing loss to Vegas, Stefan Noesen said the Devils need to care more.
At this point, it may not be the Devils that need to "care." It seems to be a man running the team that needs to make the effort to "care." They cannot keep trotting out the same lineup that barely scrapes two goals a game for the last month and a half and think things will change.
The Carolina Hurricanes traded for one of the best players in the league and the Devils' only franchise MVP in Mikko Rantanen and Taylor Hall. The Rangers traded for JT Miller, a player that would have been perfect for this Devils team and hashelp won some games since. The Flyers made moves that help their roster now and in the future.
The Penguins have been selling their assets and stocking up prospects for the future. The Capitals have been unbeatable. The Islanders added via a trade, waivers, and free agency. The Columbus Blue Jackets have had magic all season and are a complete wild card. With all of the odds stacked against them going into the year, they have done above and beyond what was expected of them
So it seems as if the only team that is not showing care is the Devils. That "care" starts at the very top. If Fitzgerald makes a move to show his team that he believes in them, maybe the on-ice product will improve. The sooner Fitzgerald makes a move, the better. Hopefully the third time is the charm for him to get up and do something.