NJ Devils Tom Fitzgerald Offseason Press Conference Thoughts & Reaction

NJ Devils Tom Fitzgerald Offseason Press Conference Thoughts & Reaction

Welcome back Devils fans. It is your host Ace here on Running with the Devils where we are talking new jewels of Devils hockey all year long. Please hit that subscribe button, smash the like, share with a friend. Thank you very much. And earlier today, general manager Tom Fitzgerald had a little bit of a press conference to talk about the off season and free agency and all of those things. It actually wasn’t even a traditional press conference. It was more of what I would call a media scrum. a few reporters in attendance with the microphones in his face as you know and there was some interesting and somewhat disheartening things discussed or at least disheartening from my perspective in terms of kind of reading between the lines and seeing what’s going on. But we’re going to get to all of it and we’re going to get to all of it right now. Here are my thoughts and reactions to Tom Fitzgerald’s press conference earlier today from the Credential Center. They opened up asking him about Jake Allen and you know what is there not to like? Uh great deal for Jake Allen. Fitz talked about we were excited to have him back yada yada. His family was very great in the process and keeping the cap hit down and blah blah blah blah blah. Good stuff. Little feelgood question to start start it off. And if you haven’t seen my free agency recap video, uh check that out. I will put the link in the description for that as And if you haven’t watched the Fitz press conference yet, obviously before you got to this video, link in the description. Go watch that, then come back and watch this. It’ll make more sense. Asked about Allen, you know, the usual stuff. Then they get to Connor Brown. Fitzy said he wanted to add to the middle of the lineup. He can, talking about Connor Brown, move around the lineup. And then he called him a Swiss jack knife. Obviously, he meant a Swiss Army knife, as in a very utilitarian type player that you could use in a bunch of different settings, but he called him a Swiss jack knife. Said that Connor Brown was hungry to win. Obviously, getting to the cup finals with the Oilers and back-to-back years and falling short to the juggernaut that is the Florida Panthers, but that he’s hungry to win and that Connor wants to win here. And Fitzian also said that he’s been there and come up short, referring to the 1996 Florida Panthers team that he was a member of. Knows the feeling. And then he was asked about the initial impression of the team after the additions and he kind of circles back onto Donov as well. And Fitz said he’s excited. He thinks the Devils are a faster team. He said he added the skill and there’s excitement of Gritsuk, Hamo, and Lachans coming to camp. He thinks they could make it hard on us to send them down. They all have NHL upside. Gritsuk is the one they’re the most excited about and he will be here mid August. The upside of Ddanov in the lineup and then mentioned that Ddanov will mentor Gritsuk and that Hamo will also be here around mid August after he’s finished with his training. And kind of right away, as I feared, if you kind of look into these comments, it really seems as though Tom Fitzgerald believes Connor Brown and or Donovan could potentially play in the top six. And that is what I have issue with because that is what the team has been doing. Getting these bottom six guys and then hoping and wishing that they’re going to transform into these legitimate top six players. I think this is completely absurd. Now, do I think Connor Brown or Donov could contribute here and there and play some top six minutes when necessary? Absolutely. But to go out and get these guys in free agency and then in the back of your mind hope that one or both of them will kind of stick in the top six is just not it. It is just not it. We’ve been doing that over and over and it just hasn’t panned out. We tried Nason there last year. Um Tatar was the guy we signed with that hope. Mercer, no one really stuck. No one really took the ball and ran with it as they say and it was just kind of a rotation of guys that didn’t belong playing in the top six playing in the top six. When I hear these comments about Connor Brown and Donov, it certainly seems to me like that is the hope coming from Fitzgerald and that he has no intention of adding a top six guy. Now, I could be crazy. I don’t think I am. We’ll get into some more of the stuff kind of related to this uh later on in the press conference because there’s more things that kind of make me believe that. Then Fitz was asked what did he learn about depth scoring from the end of season press conference. Obviously, as you all know, Fitz put his foot in his mouth once again in his most recent press conference, which was a couple weeks after the season ended, and he said, “You know, what is depth scoring?” I I asked my team, “What exactly is depth scoring?” A lot of people took that and ran with it. He probably regretted saying it shortly after he did say it, but he was asked what did he learn about depth scoring from the end of the season press conference till now. Fitz went on to say that he was looking him and his team were looking at five on five play. Okay, fair enough. And that Brown and Donov scored the majority of their goals on five on five. I like that. You want even strength scoring. You don’t just want power play merchants that are racking up goals and points all on power play. That makes sense. Our power play is very good. We have plenty of power play worthy players and we want some even strength guys. He feels that Brown and Donov are that, which is fine. And then Fitz goes on to say, but he’s not sure we found the answer to the question. Is it shooting percentage in the playoffs? Is it getting on a hot streak? Is it the amount of chances you get? Eventually, goals will fall in. And then he said, we definitely added to what we felt we needed to add to again. Brown and Donov I like in the bottom six. But now when you start talking about in other breaths middle middle of the lineup, you’re now in that top six region, which should not be the thought process here. Get a legitimate top six guy. I’m not even asking for two, just get one. The next question he was asked was, “Are there any updates on the injured players?” And then Fitz said, “They’re all progressing great. Should be ready for the start of the season.” Okay, it was very quick. On to the next question. Someone said, “Do you have a Luke Hughes contract extension update?” He said, “No, but that is my number one priority.” And that was it. Now, that comes back up again later on in the conversation with him as well. The next question is with Jake Allen being signed long term, what’s the long-term plan for Nico Daws? And then Fitzy said, “You see how often goalies go down, having depth and net is crucial.” He said that Nico played too early in his career out of necessity. Obviously, our goalending was a disaster and Nico Daws kind of got fed to the Wolves in 23 24. And then Fitz went on to say he really likes Nico, but we feel like having this depth makes us a better team. All fine. I have no issue with any of this. Obviously, they didn’t trust him as much as Jake Allen. It is what it is. He probably should be traded. I don’t see how he’s not. I wish the reporters pressed a little bit more and, you know, mentioned he has a one-way contract and like what what is the plan here? Are you going to look to deal him? But questions like that would often just kind of get ignored or side kind of sideswiped or whatever you want to call it anyway. So, it is what it is. Next question up, someone said, “On Dawson Mercer, is there another level offensively?” And then Fitz said, “Scoring goals is the hardest thing to do in this league. It’s important to play the right way consistently getting to the dirty areas.” And then he went on to talk about how Mercer is a guy that doesn’t shy away from those areas. A lot of his goals are near the crease. We just expect consistency out of him. We are excited to see where his game is going. He talked about the emphasis for Dawson to get stronger in the offseason that it was demanded of him. And then Fitz went on to say that, you know, in regards to last year, Dawson didn’t start camp with us last year. Maybe he had some conditioning issues and maybe that kind of led to a slower start for him. Now, my biggest issue with that is, as you all remember, or some of you at least, Dawson Mercer was a restricted free agent last summer, just like Luke Hughes is right now. And the deal did not get done. It lingered on and on and it finally was signed on like the first day of training camp, I think. But it begs the question, what took so long to get that deal done? I understand some deals, you know, there’s a lot of back and forth and blah blah blah, but in the end, there is no need for it to go on for the whole summer and bleed into training camp. This is not uh acquisitions and mergers of Fortune 500 companies dealing with teams of lawyers and forensic accountants and all this stuff. In the end, it’s like he wants this year, this much money, and it’s like we’re at these years, this much money, blah blah blah, and you barter back and forth, a little negotiation. There is no need for these deals to take months, and that’s what happened with Dawson Mercer. And so, for him to cite Mercer not starting camp, and again, he only missed a couple days. Maybe he missed some conditioning stuff beforehand, whatever. But he didn’t miss a ton of time. But the fact remains, anything he did miss was because the contract stuff took entirely too long to get done. And now maybe Mercer was playing super hard ball. We’ll never know all of the details behind the scenes. But in the end, I would have to believe that the contract Mercer was given could have been signed and finished well before it did and he wouldn’t have missed any time. A very frustrating thing to hear in my opinion. And I’ll circle back on that in regards to Luke Hughes in a couple minutes. Fitz was asked, “Are you still in the market for a center?” and he immediately responded, “My number one priority right now is signing Luke Hughes.” Wow. Wow. I mean, obviously avoiding the question. To me, that’s my answer. It’s to me it’s a definitive no. He’s not in the market for a center. To come out and say, “My number one priority right now is signing Luke Hughes.” That could be your number one priority, but your number one A or number two priority could also be signing a center. Can you only focus on one deal at once? One deal at a time. One deal at a time. I can’t have multiple things kind of floating out there. Laser focused just Luke. All of the other needs we have be damned. To hear that was kind of frustrating as well. And to me, it’s certainly an indicator that we likely will not see another center. And Cody Glass probably will be your 3C guys. Maybe someone else pushes him down to 4C if they try Dawson back there. Who really knows? But it seems like the true blue legit thirdline center we’ve all been clamoring for is likely not coming and it’ll be one of the guys on the roster as of right now. Next question to Fitz. How is Kovase doing in the timeline? Fitz said he definitely won’t start the season, but he’s doing great again. Okay, so is he back for Thanksgiving? Is he back for Christmas? Is he back a week after New Year’s? Is he back for Valentine’s Day? Uh is he back for March? Is he back for the playoffs? We don’t know. Hopefully sooner than later. I love Johnny Kovvich. And just a quick side note for all the people that were kind of talking smack on that contract or Fitz for giving him the contract. A rare time I’m going to defend Fitz. Locking up Kovvich at four million bucks some months back was a great signing. If you look at what some of the defensemen are getting in free agency, again, we are in the new cap era. Some guys are getting crazy money. Kovasich at four million bucks is a steal, but he’s going to miss some of the season for sure. How much? We don’t know. And so it’s nice to have depth defenseman. And that’s I believe a big part of why you saw Dennis Chilowski brought back by Fitz because with the injury question marks to Dylan Kovase in the horrible event another defenseman gets hurt. You can never have enough. You don’t want to get exposed on the blue line. Chilowski was brought back, but Johnny Kovvich confirmed will miss the start of the season. And then Fitz was asked, “Was adding speed a big point of emphasis for you?” And Fitz said, “I don’t know if it was an emphasis. I’d like to see our whole team play faster, move pucks quicker, attack quicker, counterattack quicker.” He referenced a team from a couple years ago that moved pucks quicker. He said, “I think speed kills. Anytime you can have that, it can only help you.” Okay, fair enough. I wish someone asked about a little, you know, grit, sandpaper, tenacity, something along the lines of what the Florida Panthers have. I wish someone kind of weaved that in there. Um, you know, after watching the rest of the playoffs and the finals, was there any elements of those successful teams that he thought we were missing? Would be very curious to see what he would say. But he talked about the speed. All good with that. And this one was very interesting. The next question was, “What does success look like for the 25 26 Devils?” And Fitz literally goes, “Uh, I would say be healthy going into the playoffs, feeling good about your game as the season ends, and then to win a Stanley Cup.” And then he said, “I think just being a team that can be committed, accountable, and consistent is all we ask, and then the puck drops and you play the game.” You know, fair enough. Uh, I was a little disappointed while watching it live that his immediate snap answer wasn’t win a Stanley Cup. You know, he he him a little bit. He talked about healthy, couple other things and then he eventually gets to win a Stanley Cup. I mean, I’m not going to make a huge deal out of it, but if you ask a lot of GMs at this time of the year, what does success look like for your club next year? Most of them are going to be like to win a Stanley Cup. Obviously, there’s some that are so far removed from that kind of in rebuilds or whatever that it would be kind of ridiculous for them to say that. But that still should be their answer as what success looks like. But I, you know, but for the Devils, a team that should be in win now mode, that should immediately be the answer for everyone. Win a Stanley Cup organizationwide, every level of the organization. If you ask the players that, I want them to immediately say win a Stanley Cup. If you ask any of the uh back office executives, I want them to say win a Stanley Cup. If you ask the equipment manager, I want them to say win a Stanley Cup. If you ask the janitor of The Rock, they should say win a Stanley Cup. The entire organization top down should know the goal is to win a Stanley Cup. That is what success looks like and that’s what we are pushing for. I still fear that we are not quite there in terms of mentality in terms of mentality. But then we get to the next question and someone said, “How would you assess where you are right now with what you have and what you think you’ll go into camp with? Are things still bubbling? Do you expect much more?” Fitz immediately says, “Again, my number one priority is Luke Hughes. What I do with Luke Hughes will determine what else I possibly could do. if we went into the season with this group of players. We touched on Gritsuk and excitement we see and hopefully he comes into camp and can he be a top six player? Can he be immediate help? I don’t know. But having the depth and adding to Donov and Brown helps do that. Having Cody Glass for the start of the season versus getting him at the deadline, we will see a more comfortable and probably a better player. Lamako is another guy that we brought in to help with that depth. He’s big, 6’3, can skate. Can he help? Can he be a younger Lars Eller type guy that can help us with Dzone faceoffs, penalty kill? He’s got the size, so there’s a lot of unknowns, but a lot of excitement that comes with that. And there was the dagger firmly in my chest. Maddie was actually the one that asked this question, kind of trying to gauge essentially if he was done or if it’s expected more. That’s essentially what the point of the question was. Very good question. Perhaps the most direct and best question asked of the entire thing. Uh, shout out to Daniel Amo Hoya. He asked a couple good ones as well, but this one, how would you assess where you are right now with what you have and what you think you’ll go into camp with? Are things still bubbling? Do you expect much more? Very direct and to the point. And he says, again, my number one priority is Luke Hughes. What I do with Luke Hughes will determine what else I possibly could do. The first part of that is like, buddy, back to my point a couple minutes ago about Mercer, if that deal is going to hold up you doing other deals, get the deal done. Get the deal done. What are we waiting for? If you’re not going to maneuver or focus or even think about anything else other than Luke Hughes until that’s done, then get it done so that the rest of the business can be handled. If we’re just going to sit here and do nothing while the Luke thing continues on, what are we doing? What are we doing? There’s no need to hold up all the other moves that should be taking place because of the Luke Hughes contract. None whatsoever. You should have a rough idea of what this number is going to come in at and what that allows you to do outside of him. And there’s an even other thing that’s coming later in this that makes me even more crazy about the Luke thing, but get it done. We all knew this was coming. Is this going to bleed on to training camp like Mercers and then if Luke has a slow start or something next summer you’re going to be like, “Yeah, well last year Luke, you know, had a slow start because he missed some of camp and blah blah blah.” And it’s like, “Yeah, he missed camp because you took forever to get the deal done.” Get the freaking deal done. And then he goes on to keep talking about Gritzuk and then he drops the gem. He drops the gem. Can he be a top six player? Oh, knifed. just so now you’re talking about looking at the roster as it stands right now Fitz believes that at a minimum Gritsuk Donov and Connor Brown those three guys could all potentially be top six guys. So you know what that means? There is no legitimate top six guy on the horizon. Why would he go out and get one? He believes he has three guys that could potentially keyword being potentially fill in in the top six with those three. Super super frustrating to hear. And and because of these statements, I believe there’s very little chance a legitimate top six guys brought in. So for all you guys talking about superstar names and all these things, keep dreaming. It’s never going to happen. I would love to be wrong. I would love to be wrong. And if this is if this is all just some poker face uh Fitz keeping his cards closed to the vest and then he comes out of nowhere with a whopper, I’ll be the first one to come on here and apologize and kiss ass, but I don’t think that’s what it is at all. I would love to see it. I would love to see it, but I don’t think it is. I think he’s being very forthright here and essentially told us that he thinks he has three guys that could potentially fill in in the top six. Um, and then they go on to talk about Lamo. He talks about Lamo like it’s this amazing find that they added. And all due respect to Lamaco, the guy hasn’t played in the NHL in four years. I mean, we’re talking about a guy who’s played overseas and you think he’s going to come in and be this like situational monster and add to the depth and do all these things and we’re excited about it. I’m sorry. I can’t get excited about it. I can’t. I hope again another guy I hope I’m wrong about. I hope he comes in and he tears it up. But if I’m being honest, I’m not expecting it. And I think for anyone to expect him to do that is very it’s very unrealistic and very hopeful. I am tired of being hopeful. Where has it gotten us? Hoping and wishing has gotten us nowhere. Nowhere. I would love to see Lamco come in and just dominate, but the reality is it’s not likely. Just like it wasn’t likely that Daniel Sprung and Cody Glass were gonna propel us to new levels at the deadline last year. With all due respect to them, these are depth moves that aren’t going to make or break your team. It’s nice to have them and you want to improve your bottom six and all that. And I fully agree, but that’s not pushing you to the next level of winning a cup. It’s just not. And to talk about Lamaco like that, I told you guys a couple days after that deal was signed, I firmly believe he’s going to start the season with the big club in the bottom six for I’m almost positive of it. Let me calm down. I’m trying not to go on a rant. I think I’m being very logical here. I mean, you know, it is what it is. But when you’re talking about, you know, these types of depth players and Lamico, it just feels like the fan base is constantly fed ground beef and we’re told it’s filetmenan. That’s what I feel like it is. It’s like here’s ground beef, but it’s filetmenan. No, it’s not filetmenan. I know what filemen is. This is ground beef. These depth pieces, which are ground beef, are being presented to us in a way where here it is. Here’s your filemen. No, it’s not. Do not insult my intelligence. This is not legitimate top six fixing at all. We didn’t have one last year. He tried to get the tar. It didn’t work. And like I said before, all the other guys rotated through. None of them really panned out. And so here we are again trying to find these hopeful budget fixes for the top six. And it is just crazy. I am tired of it. We are burning years of the core. And what are we what are we doing here? What are we doing? Next topic discussed were the Shimono Nettsz and Sheamus Casey expectations for the upcoming season. Fitz said, “I think Nemitz last year got off to a slow start.” He talked about how he was injured in the Olympic qualifiers. He said he probably wasn’t in the best shape because of it, but he said that uh Nemits knows what to to expect. The team loved where he ended, where his game was, and that the team thought he looked like the player they thought they were drafting with that number two overall pick. They were really excited about his growth. And then in terms of Sheamus Casey, he said he’s still a very young player in the league. He will eventually get that experience that Nemet’s got and that it’s always nice to have depth, especially right shot D. Nothing really surprising there. And then it comes back to Luke. I love that someone else jumped in with another Luke question. They said, “What are the vibes you get from Luke’s camp on the contract?” And then Fitz said, “I talked to his agent yesterday. We said, “Let’s enjoy the holiday weekend and we’ll talk after the weekend.” He said that Luke’s excited. He wants to be a Devil long term, just like his brother did. Fitz said they are excited about that. He went on to mention how players want to stay here. They want to be in New Jersey and be a part of what we are creating here, but also know that the standards are getting higher and higher and higher each and every year, which is exciting for us. I don’t sense anything other than Luke wants to be a devil for a long, long time. This made me really freak out because he keeps using the pending Luke contract as a reason to essentially not do anything else until that’s done, right? He he said, you know, my number one priority is Luke. That’s all I’m focused on, blah blah blah. So, he mentions that that’s all he’s focused on at the moment. and then goes on to tell us how he talked to his agent yesterday, which was July 1st, and that they’re going to reconvene after the holiday weekend. So, you’re talking about what? They’re going to talk again on July, let me pull up my calendar here. What constitutes the holiday weekend? Fourth of July is Friday the 4th, so 5th. So, you’re talking about Yeah, basically a week. They’re like, “We’re going to take a week off from these negotiations and we’ll circle back after the holiday weekend and Monday would be July 7th.” What are we talking about? You’re essentially shutting down any types of significant moves for a week because you’re just like, “Yeah, enjoy the weekend. We’ll uh you know, we’ll get this done. Maybe next week we’ll talk again.” Unacceptable. Unacceptable. I wouldn’t care at all about this if the Luke contract wasn’t cited as a reason to not look at other things that we need. Again, everyone wants a top six winger. I don’t think it’s happening. Uh he was asked about the center. He kind of used the same Luke excuse. I don’t think we’re going to get a center. I think if anything, we might get one or two more bottom six pieces and that’ll be a wrap. Again, I would love to be wrong. I don’t think I am. But to take a essentially a week off from the Luke Hughes contract negotiations is insane. Insane. You’re not going to make any other meaningful moves until Luke is done and you’ve packed it up until next week. What are we talking about? This is not effective. I’m sorry. This is completely ineffective and drives me crazy. Drives me absolutely crazy. This should have been done already. If if Luke is going to hold up everything, it should have been done already. Are the negotiations that hard? I cannot believe that it is. You hammer it out back and forth. You should be able to do this in a couple days, max. Max. There’s no reason for these things to linger on forever. And there’s really no excuse for you to take a week off. Totally nuts. And then the other thing that kind of drove me nuts is when he proudfully said, “Pers want to stay here. They want to be in New Jersey and be part of what we are creating here.” What exactly are you creating here? a mediocre team that every year at best will make the playoffs and get knocked out in the first round. It is infuriating to hear this. What are you creating? The 2223 season, a franchise record 112 points, beat the Rangers in an amazing sevengame series before we fell to the Hurricanes in round two. But it was a great season. I think most logical people thought that should have been the turnaround season where it’s like, “All right, we’ve arrived now. The core is in place and we’re going to be a perennial playoff team every year going forward and push for a cup. The very next year 23 24 we missed the playoffs. Massive regression, monster steps backwards, missing the playoffs after a franchise record setting season which saw you get to the second round. We missed the playoffs and the reality is that’s largely his fault as well. We were drowning with no goalending all year long. Every road team, broadcast team knew it. They knew it on every talk show h about hockey, anything hockey media knew. The Devils were drowning slowly because our goalending was inadequate. And what did he do? He hoped and wished. Hoped and wished it would somehow fix itself. It didn’t. We fall out of a playoff spot. And then to add insult to injury on deadline day when it’s far too late to claw into the playoffs, he gets two goalies, Jake Allen and Capo Kacin, when it’s far too late and we miss the playoffs after a franchise record setting season. This is unforgivable stuff. I wanted him gone after that. To me, I was done after that. That is unforgivable. That is a completely wasted season to just sit back, do nothing while the problem was glaring to everyone on the planet and just ignore it. unacceptable. A season of the course squandered and just completely absurd. But they come back for 24-25. This season that just passed. Obviously, injuries again are excuse everyone likes to use. They are unfortunate, but what do we do in season 2425? Underwhelming deadline for sure. Cody Glass and Sprong. I mean, and then we’re out in the first round. And so as of today, I would like to know what exactly is being created here other than hopes, dreams, and perpetually talking about how bright the future is. The future is now. The time to win is right now. Right now. Jacob Marstrom is a win now goalie. Brett Peshi is not getting any younger. When Dylan comes back, he’s a veteran defenseman. Our core is getting older. Brad or Eno 27, 28, whatever they are. We have no idea how long Jack Hughes can stay healthy for. There’s so many question marks around the team. Push the chips in now. The time to win is now. Only two years left on Nicoir’s contract. There’s no guarantee whatsoever he will be here beyond that. Would you want to stay here if you were Nico? Would you? What has the team showed you? But I would love to know what exactly is being created here other than what seems to be a losing mentality franchise that is perfectly okay with absolute mediocrity. It’s completely maddening. Completely maddening. Other unrestricted free agents he was asked about and then Fitz confirmed he’s not signing any of the other guys that are unrestricted free agents that were not already signed. You know, those are the foots, bastions, Lazars, Sprs of the worlds. uh foot signed with Florida, Lazar signed with the Oilers. Some of these other guys may have signed by the time this video comes out. I don’t know. But all those other names that weren’t already signed will be moving on and not brought back as New Jersey Devils. And then another interesting one from Daniel Amoya. He asked Fitz if he has a concrete plan for which level Jacob Malik, stud goalie, is going to start at. And Fitz said the AHL, he’s going to give him an opportunity to hold down a job there or even compete for the starting job. and talks about how Malik has been playing pro hockey for a few years. He’s had some ups and downs, but that the team is excited about him and the other goalies in the system. Lots of exciting goalies in the system for sure. Almost too many, I would say. But I was at development camp earlier today. I got some great footage, including the stable of young goalies in the pipeline and some other stuff. So, keep your eyes peeled for that. I will have a ton of videos coming out in the next couple days from development camp, which is why I’m a little late to react to this Fitz video here. But lots and lots of promising goalies in the pipeline. And then finally, Daniel Amoya asked him, “What can you say about what Yagorov has done at BEu?” Fitz kind of smiled. He said, “It’s exciting. It’s a name that always comes up at the trade deadline. We know we have a good one there.” And he said, “The thing about goalies, we just don’t know when they’re going to arrive.” Interesting tidbit there. It seems like other teams throughout the college season h saw Yagorov tear it up at BEu, bringing them all the way to the championship game before they fell short. and tons of teams are probably trying to get him. He is the one to watch, guys. I’ve seen him live. I’ve seen several of his games on television. Uh if you hadn’t seen any of my Yagorov stuff, I’ll put some links in the description of this video as well. I had a whole thing I filmed at BEu. But he’s the next franchise goalie. He’s the guy. He’s going to be a monster and hopefully he could lead this team to a couple Stanley Cups down the line. But for the moment, I don’t care about the Yoro Vera. It is exciting, but I’m tired of hearing the future’s bright. The time to win is now. And chips need to be pushed in. Signing these depth guys and then hoping, wishing they’re going to play up in the top six and perform is just ridiculous. That is not a winning mentality. That’s certainly not what Bill Zoto is doing in Florida. That’s not what any winning program does. They go out and get legitimate top six guys. And I’m only asking for one. As it stands right now, we have a top four. I would like one more added so at least have a top five. And then we could have one random in the top six and hopefully be fine with that. But to have two guys that truly don’t belong in the top six playing in the top six is not putting your team in the best position for success. And it’s what we’ve been doing and does not work. Has not worked. Go get a top six guy. Furthermore, I’m going to give Fitzy a free one right here. It’s not that difficult. As you all have pointed out for weeks now, the obvious one, the elephant in the room, get rid of Palott’s contract. Period. Figure out what you have to do. Whether it’s package, maybe a lower level prospect and a pick or whatever it is, get it done. At some point, you have to be able to find a team that will take him in the right deal. You might have to burn some assets. And I know we love clutching onto assets and the future’s so bright. We have all these prospects and picks. The guy’s the guy’s looking towards a future that he should not even be a part of because the track record speaks for itself. And so for a team and a general manager that has been so obsessed with future pieces and all these things, it’s time to spend some today. The time to win is now. Figure out what you have to package up a lot. You get him out of here. That’s six million bucks. That’s a start. And then you figure out what it takes to get Alex Tuck here. It’s not that hard. This is not rocket science. And maybe he’s not available. And if he’s not, then so be it. But you at least try. Once Palott’s money is gone, that opens up some possibilities. You try to get a guy like Tuck. There’s tons of other guys that I would throw. I’m not going to bother throwing out all the names, but you get that real top six guy. Once Palots money’s moved out, you start calling these teams and look for a trade. For all the people like, “Oh, who would you have gotten?” And you know, the apologists, I’ll say there’s a lot of apologists out there still. I think they’re becoming less and less by the day as as people become more and more kind of alert to the situation the team is in and has been in for quite some time in my opinion. You know, people are becoming frustrated and it’s starting to show. But once Palots’s money’s gone, that gives you some options to go out there and try to make a trade for a real top six winger. That must happen. Must must must happen. And it’s not that difficult. And I refuse to believe it’s difficult. Tons of other teams get it done, they find a way. It’s time to stop just making these little tinkering type moves that everyone would say are pretty safe. You know, you sign a couple guys, make some minor moves. These are all very safe deals. Like I’ve said a million times, the deals that really push a team forward, they always sting in some way and they’re like might surprise the fan base, might shock some other players, might send some ripples through the locker room, but those are the deals that make things happen and truly move the needle and push a team towards being a true cup contender. It’s not signing bottom six guys and hoping they become top six superstars. That is not it. Sometimes you got to make a difficult trade, but once Palots’s money’s gone, there’ll be trade options out there. Gotta make them happen. But I’m tired of the future’s bright. I’m trying not to be super negative. And I hope I’m wrong in that this was a great poker performance by Fitz and he has all these other things planned. I just don’t think that’s the case. And I’m pretty sure most of the offseason moves have already been done. Again, I hope I’m wrong and I’ll be the first to, you know, say I was wrong and praise any substantial moves that happen down the line. I just don’t think that’s going to happen. And I am pretty frightened at the moment. I am frightened that Fitz is sitting back and he’s like, “Yep, we killed it. We killed this off season. Yep. Cody Glass is back. Juamico was a find. Connor Brown Donov Gritsu could be a star. I think we did it. I really like where we’re at and I think it’s a grave mistake. Grave mistake. And I think it would set all of us up for another season of disappointment one way or another. I do believe the team would still be good enough mainly because of goalending and the defense to get into the playoffs, but we’ll be out very quick. Probably out in the first round yet again if nothing else is done. Because as it is right now, this team is not a true contender. I’m sorry. Does anyone look at our roster today and you’re like, “Yep, this team’s going to beat the Toronto and even worse, the Florida Panthers of the world.” Absolutely not. And if you believe that, give me your dealers number because you’re getting some good good stuff. And that’s it. I said a lot in this video. Again, trying not to be super negative, but when you read between the lines and you see all these things, it makes my blood pressure spike. Lots of things in the works, but let me know what you think about all of this in the comments. anything, everything. Devils hockey. Throw it out there in the comments. I enjoy talking to all of you. Lots of stuff in the works. As always, like I said, development camp stuff, some other things. But the next couple days, there’ll be some development camp stuff for sure. You Gorov footage, some of the other goalies, some nice shootouts, lots of stuff. But I’ll be back soon. I might even do a live later today, maybe. The voice is shot though. But that’s it, guys. You’ll see me soon. Thank you all for watching. I love you all. Like, comment, subscribe, and all that jazz. Until next time, friends, let’s go travel. [Applause] [Music]

New Jersey Devils General Manager Tom Fitzgerald addressed some reporters today from the Prudential Center to discuss the team.

He was asked about the NJ Devils Free Agent signings, the Luke Hughes contract, updates on injuries, expectations for Dawson Mercer, Simon Nemec, Seamus Casey and many other topics.

What else will the New Jersey Devils do to improve this summer?

I discuss what he said and decipher it a bit here…

Let me know your thoughts in the comments.

To see my Free Agency Recap, see below:

To see the Fitzgerald Media Availability, see below:

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