The Devils have many good players om paper, yet the results haven’t been there.
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42 Comments
Is it only me, but did not the downfall start after Quinn signed for Minneota?
The Utica Comets (AHL) are in the cellar also.
Brett Pesce's 6 week injury was just as key to the Devils drop off.
Buffalo fan here. Thanks for giving us Lindy back.
Jack Hughes is a stud and America loves him.
At the very least I'd have some doctors sitting down with Jack Hughes checking to make sure everything's really ok. Their banking on the future with him so it's best to try to stop him from being so injury prone. After that I'd just let this season go and try to stockpile draft picks to at least get some more support around him.
Fitz has passed his deadline. I'm not a fan of expired food either. Good news is Tom only works from June to September so I expect very little to happen in the near future. But there are a few months left that he can hand out some no movement clauses and make the next GMs job more difficult.
Trade Jack right now – today – before he gets hurt again. His value will never be higher. A smart GM could even sucker a team into taking Luke, too.
Unpopular opinion here, but I think Fitzgerald is a good GM. The reasons I say this is because Fitzgerald made some good trades in the past we have forgotten by now, and he seems to "operate from the shadows," in that he doesn't tip his hand or get involved with everything tradewise. He seems calculated (sometimes too calculated? Sure). Furthermore, keep in mind that if GMs see you fleecing other GMs, they might generally be wary to deal with you. I know everyone wanted trades to fix the roster this season when everything was going south, but I don't think there were good trades to be made – I didn't think the names being floated would've fixed the team (Stamkos, Schenn, O'Reilly, etc) and to be clear, he did go after Quinn Hughes, just couldn't clear the cap space. Yes, lots of no movement clauses, but I think that's on the players not living up to their clauses – I would've give those clauses to those players when I signing them at the time. But Fitzgerald is not making panicked trades that others made in the past, and I think there is something to be said about that.
Instead, I really wonder if this system doesn't fit the Devils roster. I feel like this defense first system is trying to somewhat emulate what Carolina is doing, and I don't think it's working. I also don't like how passive they are on the forecheck, which causes them to get too hemmed up on their zone too often. I think the Devils thrive on speed. Just a reminder that that great season a few seasons ago was with the speedy system that Andrew Brunette installed as an assistant under Ruff. THG even said at the time this was the most fun team he watched. I wish the team could go back to that, and I wonder if that could be the key to revitalizing this roster.
As a Rangers fan, the one bright spot of this season will (hopefully) be the Devils also missing the playoffs. Lots of hockey left, so we will see!
I've wanted Fitz fired since mid season last year. He's incompetent and way too passive as a GM.
The hope is still there
Jack Hughes play and achievement in the Olympics underscores the need for Devils ownership and management to step up and construct a real roster team around him. Tom Fitzgerald must be on the hot seat.š„šŗš²šš LGD !
That rebuild really did not go well… It's kinda poop lol
Jonas Brothers reunion in Minnesota?
Harris is in the files.
Meier was also a valuable scorer for Switzerland (10th best of the tournament). I think he was better than with the devils. Ironically he was playing with Hischier too, so it's not a chemistry thing between the two. But what was apparent: When he had Josi and/or Moser behind him, he was very effective. I guess the blue line needs some attention if you want Meier's numbers go up.
Jack needs to pull a Taylor Hall. Put the team on his back and carry us to the playoffs with a Hart trophy type season!
The video is exactly 13:00 long. A nod to Nico Hischier?
One thing you havenāt mentioned, and I think doesnāt get enough emphasis, is the off-ice personnel. Strength and fitness seems to have been an issue for years with all the injuries (does RWJBarnabus Health really want Jack Hughes as their marketing personality?), I question equipment (skate sharpening) and ice quality – players seem to stumble where they shouldnāt be. And how did Mackenzie Blackwood and Scott Wedgewood, who struggled mightily in NJ, become stars in Colorado? I question goaltending coaching.
I donāt know how many of these things are under Fitzās responsibilities or how many are under someone elseās, but I think back to Lou Lamoriello when EVERY decision had hockey as its focus, and he looked at everything. Now the players are engaged in so much fan interaction activity and I wonder if itās affecting their focus as players. Rant over. Maybe next year.
Markstrom has killed this team. As well as all the stars across the team are having down years.. They don't respond well to adversity as a devils fan I think we need a big shake up
Fitzgerald is the sole reason why we are in the predicament we are in…his failures are endless. He needed to be canned 2 years ago. It's amazing he still has a job.
2 years ago, every team knew we needed a goalie. He sat on his hands, botched deals, and got bottom feeder goalies at the deadline.
Last year, we needed a top 6 forward, and got us bottom feeders again. And this year…he botched the biggest deal of all….Quinn Hughes. And he couldn't land him, because he didn't have the balls to make the moves to free up cap space. He could have said to Hamilton "Ok you don't want to waive your no trade clause? You're going down to the minor league." Hell waive. Thats what Drury did to Trouba in NY. While I think Keefe has some blame, most of this falls on Fitz…I am not going to another game until Fitz is gone. Gotta hurt ownership where it hurts- their wallets. #FireFitz #HarrissucksBlitzerswallows
bro hughes allen trade yurov wallstedt faber 1pick 27 1 pick 28 shocks trade
It feels like the ownership cares more about their football team and our devils are an afterthought
I donāt get the Keefe hate. Literally zero people thought he was a problem last year. No one thought he was a problem at US Thanksgiving this year. Now all of a sudden itās Keefeās fault? Thatās just people being lazy and āfire the coachā is the easiest āanswerā they can come up with
Tom Fitzgerald should have been fired 3 years ago š„
I love Jack Hughes but Iām not keen on the Devils
They love to start strong and then just crumble. Hughes getting injured every season doesnt help.
If there is a clear trade that needs to be made, tom will never be able to pull it off. Ever
I am a hardcore Devils fan who believes Tom Fitzgerald's weak management to be the #1 cause of 3 consecutive seasons of major disappointment after a 2022-23 season where they had the 3rd best record in the NHL and won a playoff round as a young team. There is no excuse not to have at least 2 going on 3 playoff appearances with at least one deep run mixed in given how great they were in 2022-23 and how team friendly their core contracts are between Jack, Bratt, and Nico. Fitz' bumbles are a clear big part of each of the past 3 seasons of under achievement.
In 2023-24, he botched up goaltending going with Akira Schmid and Vitek Vanacek as a tandem. Schmid was only 21 and Vitek had been awful the final 3 months of the prior season. The Devil's goaltending was awful and gradually caused a complete implosion in team play. They were in the playoff race thanks to a weak Eastern conference that season in spite of goaltending and Fitz sat on his hands until the trade deadline in spite of having tons of LTIR money from Dougie Hamilton being on the shelf. Even a coaching change and some deadline improvement in net did nothing to spark the group. The Devils finished 26th in the NHL in goaltending (by advanced stats) and were 31st before the too-little-too-late deadline upgrades.
Last season, Fitz paid extra for cap sharing twice during the season and failed to utilize it creating holes in the regular season and playoff rosters. Before the start of the season, he paid extra for cap sharing on Markstrom but failed to land another needed forward and started the season playing below the cap by a few million and short up front. The team did play fantastic through Christmas. After Christmas, long before Jack's injury right before the deadline, they played slightly below NHL .500 for months and almost missed the playoffs. This is where forward depth issues caught up with them, though I do think Keefe's 5on5 system played a role and they almost managed to miss the playoffs. The day before the deadline, Fitz paid extra for cap sharing on DuMoulin as a rental and failed to utilize it "finishing second" (his words not mine) on two centers to fill in for Jack come playoff time. I can't blame him for getting knocked out by the Canes easily, their blueline literally set a playoff record for injuries, but his bumbling leading up to the playoffs is clear.
This season the locker room and record tanked before Jack's injury as a result of Fitz attempting and failing to land Quinn who wanted to play here. Friedman reported he asked permission to Welch on trade protection, a big no-no considering how favorable the collective bargaining agreement is to owners in other ways. You can see how many Devils play so much better in the Olympics away from the toxic locker room Fitz created. The team started the season 8-1 and has a 20-26-2 record since then; injuries do not account for that big a drop.
I could list more Fitz mistakes. He wasted an early first round pick on Alexander Holtz. After missing Johnny Gaudreau in free agent frenzy a few years ago, he overpaid massively for Palat to not get caught holding the bag completely. He extended Markstrom early this season without the customary market discount for age risk and, right now, Markstrom looks to be showing some age.
He needs to go. The front office needs a shakeup from the top down. It's not the players it's the management.
Timo Meier is their worst contract. But it's the goaltending that will keep this team from a playoff run.
This team doesnāt go in a positive direction UNTIL Fitzgerald is fired. He has proven his incompetence over and over again. He has no idea how to construct a winning formula.
Miss playoffs or early exits like always, Hughes can't even stay healthy š
Find some players who don't have a first name basis with the hospital.
Fitz wants to be bigger and slower. Keefe wants defensive low event hockey
How long until Jack and Luke are part of the Wild?
Did you HAVE to say '72?š¤£
I genuinely like Sheldon Keefe but this ain't it chief. Also S tier title.
Fire everybody.
One contributor to the Devils being 31st in the NHL in scoring is that the goaltending in their division has been absolutely incredible. The Metro has 4 of the top 5 goalies in GSAA so far this season: Sorokin, Thompson, Shesterkin, and Greaves. Bussi and Vladar have both been well above average goalies this season as well. New Jersey has been one of the victims of their division getting incredible goaltending this season.
support the puck for passing?
love the content as always – as a lifelong Devils fan and after watching these Olympics, I do believe that Tom Fitzgerald is the reason for the Devils struggles and he should have been fired years ago. I have a laundry list of complaints about fitzgerald, but the most notable for me are:
1) Quinn Hughes trade debacle and not landing him
2)Markstrom $6m contract that HASNT KICKED IN YET
3) NMC the entire roster so when they play poorly, you canāt move them
4) Traded Toffoli for a bag of chips when goaltending was the reason we didnāt make the playoffs in 2024. never made a trade to get a goalie until it was too late.
5)traded the speed of this team in for size and now they are so slow and lifeless watching them. a far cry from the 2022-23 team.
This team can be fixed. but NOT by this GM. I hate the fact that he is probably going to make a desperation trade at the deadline to save the season- but weāll see
Trade Timo Time to a cup contender
The problem with the Devils is the same as with Ottawa and many other team: they're a 1 line wonder team. The rest of the team is beyond mediocre. I mean, let's be very honest with ourselves, who on that team will carry them to a Stanley cup? Nobody.