The New Jersey Devils will once again be faced with tough decisions this offseason. Remember, President and General Manager Tom Fitzgerald stated last off-season that the roster would not be the same this season. Outside of a couple of depth moves, the rest of the roster stayed intact, and nothing of significance could be done because of the no-movement and no-trade clauses players have.
So, Fitzgerald will face similar questions again this offseason? However, is the Devils’ late-season surge under head coach Sheldon Keefe, following the Olympic Break, when they will fall short of making the playoffs, enough for Fitzgerald to keep his job for another season?
NHL Trade Deadline Fallout: Tom Fitzgerald Stands Pat With Eyes on the Future
At the lowest of lows for the Devils when they lost to the New York Islanders 9-0 on a January night, many thought that was the end of Fitzgerald and Keefe. But it was not. They are still here. Now, whether ownership decides to make a change at the end of the season is another thing. But there is some uncertainty given that Fitzgerald’s multi-year extension, which he signed on January 23rd, 2024, is slowly winding down.
It was clear from how the Trade Deadline was handled that ownership is thinking about a change, or why no moves were made, and a press conference was called for soon after the 3 pm deadline on March 6th.
“My big one is this, at least with the Devils, the shackles are on,” NHLRumors.com Chris Wassel told Full Press Hockey. “It’s that simple, you’re going to have essentially what amounts to be a lame duck on two fronts. Whether that’s weeks, months a year, whatever it is, the trade deadline, by far and away when a GM calls for a presser at 2:43 pm, that’s a problem.”
However, throughout the season, Fitzgerald has maintained that he has been “in sync” with ownership on the team’s vision. If they were going to make a general manager this season, it wasn’t coming from someone internal, as we saw in Buffalo with the Sabres moving on from Kevyn Adams and promoting Jarmo Kekäläinen.
Devils Rumors: New Jersey Not Done and Tom Fitzgerald Job Security
The Devils don’t have a Kekäläinen-type person in-house. Senior Advisor Chuck Fletcher is not it. So if ownership decides to keep Fitzgerald, maybe they will remove the title of President of Hockey Operations and let him be general manager, as ESPN’s Emily Kaplan stated on the Flying V Podcast.
“New Jersey, we’re all kind of curious what that looks like,” Kaplan said via The Flying V podcast. “Do they make a management change? I could see it going either way. I could see them maybe trying to just bring in somebody above Fitzgerald, below him, some more support. Maybe they make a change there.”
