For the second straight offseason, the New Jersey Devils made waves. A year after extending Jesper Bratt and Timo Meier and trading for Tyler Toffoli, Devils President and General Manager Tom Fitzgerald decided that enough was enough. He was tired of playing around.
Grading the New Jersey Devils Offseason: Part 1 – Goaltending
There is an expectation for the New Jersey Devils that it will be a Stanley Cup playoff or a bust. Just look at the banners hanging inside the Prudential Center. Those banners were won at the old Brendan Byrne Arena in East Rutherford, NJ, but there is a standard this team expects to have. That standard was not met during the 2023-24 season.
The Devils missed the playoffs again. New Jersey has made just three playoff appearances and one trip to the Stanley Cup Final since 2010. While Fitzgerald expected his team to make the playoffs last season, nobody saw the injuries that plagued this team, especially Jack Hughes, Nico Hischier, and Dougie Hamilton. The Devils could have survived one being out, but not all three—not for the time these players missed.
Those injuries, poor defensive play and goaltending cost the Devils a playoff spot last season in the wild and whacky Eastern Conference. And even if Fitzgerald hadn’t gotten the goaltender earlier than he did or traded for a player to replace Hamilton, would making the playoffs last season benefit the New Jersey Devils in the long run? Probably not.
Grading the New Jersey Devils Offseason: Part 2 – Defense
The best thing was for the Devils to miss the playoffs so Fitzgerald could address the areas of need to make the Devils into a consistent playoff contender. He has this past offseason. Fitzgerald knew change was needed to return to being a tough team to play against.
It started with getting a goaltender and changing the look of his defense. New Jersey is bigger and meaner now. With Sheldon Keefe behind the bench, there are no excuses for the Devils to play as badly as they did last season, especially defensively. Again, Fitzgerald returned to what he knew best—adding size and depth to the forward group. He revamped this team. There was no choice in the matter.
Entering this season, Tom Fitzgerald expects his New Jersey Devils club to return to the playoff picture.
“I’m more confident in this team today than I was last year, but I was confident last year, so it tells you how confident I am right now,” Fitzgerald said during his press conference on July 3rd.
If the Devils do not make the playoffs this season, the season will be viewed as a massive disappointment. Considering the moves they made with Jacob Markstrom, Brett Pesce, Brenden Dillon, Stefan Noesen, Tomas Tatar, and hiring Keefe as the head coach, the Devils have a team that should finish inside the top three in the Metro Division.
Grading the New Jersey Devils Offseason: Part 3 – Forwards
The New Jersey Devils should be the top team in the Metro. The Carolina Hurricanes and New York Rangers took steps backward this offseason. But again, you never know how the season is going to play out. Barring any major injuries, the Devils should be in the mix in the top three of the division.
There are more excuses. This team is ready to compete again with the players they added and the talent already on the roster. Expectations are set high now. All the pieces are in place. It is time for execution.
The time is now for the New Jersey Devils to return to the playoffs. And it’s not just about making the playoffs. It’s about going on a lengthy run and lifting the Stanley Cup at the end of the season.
