Devils President of Hockey Operations and General Manager Tom Fitzgerald met with members of the New Jersey media on Wednesday to talk about a variety of topics.
The only questions they are asking are different versions of 'how disappointed are you that you couldn't get Quinn Hughes?" Those are dumb questions there are other players out there to get
Imagine seeing a team as good on the rush as this team was in 2023 and thinking āyknow what would make this team better? If they played physical, 2 way hockey.ā
Someone is begging for pity. How many seasons are going to go by before he learns how to add the role players this team needs? How many games is he going to watch the team not be able to get any o zone pressure? Once every 4-5 games isnāt enough. NMC donāt affect adding players? Ok Tom.
Fitz has the deadline to majorly fix his errors & get NJ into the playoffs or he's fired mark my words.
Fans should NOT boo tonight – this won't change anything except bring all the negative drama back to the 1st game back at Home when it is 100% facts that Owenership already is not firing Firz pre deadline & 100% is evaluating his job after.
Stefan Noesen: Underwent knee surgery in January 2026, likely out for the season. Jack Hughes: Underwent shoulder surgery in March 2025, missing the end of the season but expected back for training camp. Luke Hughes: Also had shoulder surgery in May 2025. Jesper Bratt: Underwent successful shoulder surgery in May 2025 Timo Meier: had elective arthroscopic surgery on his shoulder in late April 2024 Dougie Hamilton: underwent successful surgery in December 2023 for a torn left pectoral muscle, an injury that ended his 2023-24 season early but from which he made a full recovery, returning healthy for the 2024-25 season
This explains a lot, I think. I don't think the injuries get mentioned real often. That's not all of them either. The whole team seems to constantly be playing through injuries. It'd be confusing to blame Tom Fitzgerald for that. He got team friendly deal after team friendly deal together and gets blamed. They need to shake of some rust, dial in the lines and stay injury free. They have a ton of firepower.
I'm not saying this GM has done a great job. But, other than Jack getting hurt, NONE of these issues were foreseeable.
Fitz addressed many issues going into this season. I don't remember anyone complaining about them when we were 8-1-0. No one. He replaced Bastian, Lazar, Haula, Dowling, Holtz, and Tatar with Gritsyuk, Brown, Glass, Dadonov, and Cotter. An upgrade in every single case. He brought in Markstrom and Allen, two veteran goalies, one of them incredibly cheaply.
This has mostly been about injuries and top players underperforming in response to those injuries: Our best defenseman, Pesce, got injured early on. Dougie had 10 points through 40 games. Bratt, easily our 2nd best offensive player, had a stretch with one goal in 25 games while Jack was out. ONE. GOAL. Hischier and Meier disappeared. The veteran number-one goalie we brought in STILL has a league-bottom save percentage. Luke Hughes has been put in a position of enormous defensive responsibility, leads the team in average TOI by a full two minutes, and still makes the vast majority of plays he needs to make. Luke makes mistakes BECAUSE he plays enormous minutes in condensed schedule against top lines. And the fans resent the mistakes purely because he got a contract at the start of the season.
And, by the way, kids: the season isn't over. They may turn it around. They might not. Unless you have zero emotional fortitude, no attention span, and incredibly selective hindsight, you'd know it's stupid to give up on any season, in any major sport, with 40% of the season still left to play and this much parity in the league.
Accountability? Dude you've been a ghost all season when we all knew this was going to happen. Also cross that bridge with Markstrom? We're at that bridge. Holy shit Fitzy is braindead dude.
Thanks Fitzy for sitting down and facing the questions. As a fan of the team this is what I was looking for from you and I appreciate you doing so. Go Devils!
Fire this incompetent no nuts having bum. Yes this is something that can be traded out of when it's caused by the obvious and known problems entering the summer even stated by Fitz himself, what was the quote about the roster not being good enough and needing significant change or something like that? So his big overhaul was Brown (39 gms, 9 G, 17 pts) solid 3rd liner, Dadonov (7 gms, 0 pts) hasn't been healthy enough for a grading but looks like could be a solid 4th liner, Lammikko (22 gms, 2 A, 2 pts) about as effective as Fitz's ability to make an in-season trade, Glendening (46 gms, 4 A, 4 pts) sure he's kinda solid in the dot and defensively you mean to say McLeod wouldn't have at least ONE goal for the team by now? He couldn't find anyone else better than these two? He hasn't been able to make a trade for a 4th liner (or more likely hasn't tried)?! Now yes Macewen did look promising in his less than 19 total minutes as a Devils 4th liner but just a ton of bad luck there. Palat's cap should have been freed up asap, yeah it would have been hard but Dougie probably should have been dealt in the summer (now is that do better at talking Dougie into waiving his clause for SJS or find a trade with someone else he's ok with even if it results in a double and not a homer),
There's also the damning lack of bubbling talent coming from Utica/ in the system over his tenure. Fitz has overseen six drafts now with Casey and Daws being the only non-1st rounders to wear a Devils jersey meaning we haven't had any Shara, Bratt, Zett type picks and then of his seven 1st round picks Silayev is still an unknown but personally that is who I wanted us to get and have high hopes for the kid and it's still probably too early to make a call on Mukhamadullin but since he was a solid piece in the Timo trade I'll count him as .5, so I'd say if Silayev hits Fitz went 4.5/7 1st round picks (Luke, Nemo and Dawson being the obvious hits with Holtz and Stillman being the duds). So Fitz either went 50% or 64% in the 1st round and 5% with his 35 other picks (again I'll grant this should go up to 11% presuming Yegorov and Hameenaho can both crack the roster in the futrure)
Markstrom does not give you a chance to win every game – that is flat out not true. And they need superior goaltending bc they sure as heck have issues defending giving up the first goal the majority of games and giving up 3, 4, 5 goals many nights. Hard to score and win when you are always chasing the game.
Management definitely forced him into doing this. Bro has definitely seen the hate comments. āThis isnāt good enough weāre doing so and so and so and so but weāre not gonna fire anyone Everyoneās jobs are safe, and Iām just gonna answer more calls and than ultimately bring Sprong back from the KHL to save our team and then go back on vacation.ā
Just finished the full thing. What a disaster. Iām glad he spoke but Iām also glad he reaffirmed what we all thought. This org is going nowhere fast and they have no idea how to fix it other than riding the storm out and seeing what survives when itās all said and done.
36 Comments
The only questions they are asking are different versions of 'how disappointed are you that you couldn't get Quinn Hughes?" Those are dumb questions there are other players out there to get
BOOOOO this man tonight!
Dude has the most insane "used car salesman" vibes. I don't trust a damn thing he says
What a cringe festā¦how far weāve fallen
You can't replace Jack…. GET FKING BETTER DEPTH!
Weāll never improve with Fitz as the GM we need CHANGE.
why are the "reporters" sitting next to him… weird stuff nj
That blue jacket fucking sucks
Not frustrated that he could've drafted the players traded for Quinn? Does he really want to win? You should be frustrated that your drafting sucks!
Imagine seeing a team as good on the rush as this team was in 2023 and thinking āyknow what would make this team better? If they played physical, 2 way hockey.ā
Someone is begging for pity. How many seasons are going to go by before he learns how to add the role players this team needs? How many games is he going to watch the team not be able to get any o zone pressure? Once every 4-5 games isnāt enough. NMC donāt affect adding players? Ok Tom.
Fitz has the deadline to majorly fix his errors & get NJ into the playoffs or he's fired mark my words.
Fans should NOT boo tonight
– this won't change anything except bring all the negative drama back to the 1st game back at Home when it is 100% facts that Owenership already is not firing Firz pre deadline & 100% is evaluating his job after.
His job is bigger than team success? š talk about taking accountability yet ignores yet doges every chance to take accountability.
Fire him fitz is done
Stefan Noesen: Underwent knee surgery in January 2026, likely out for the season.
Jack Hughes: Underwent shoulder surgery in March 2025, missing the end of the season but expected back for training camp.
Luke Hughes: Also had shoulder surgery in May 2025.
Jesper Bratt: Underwent successful shoulder surgery in May 2025
Timo Meier: had elective arthroscopic surgery on his shoulder in late April 2024
Dougie Hamilton: underwent successful surgery in December 2023 for a torn left pectoral muscle, an injury that ended his 2023-24 season early but from which he made a full recovery, returning healthy for the 2024-25 season
This explains a lot, I think. I don't think the injuries get mentioned real often. That's not all of them either. The whole team seems to constantly be playing through injuries.
It'd be confusing to blame Tom Fitzgerald for that. He got team friendly deal after team friendly deal together and gets blamed.
They need to shake of some rust, dial in the lines and stay injury free. They have a ton of firepower.
Tom 'Constant Conversations' Fitzgerald, time for a little less talk and a lot more action
Fitzy In!!!!!! I believe in Fitzgerald!
This is on the players. Too many games where it looks like they are playing as individuals. The lineup should be cranking.
Devils fans just get dumber every single day.
I'm not saying this GM has done a great job.
But, other than Jack getting hurt, NONE of these issues were foreseeable.
Fitz addressed many issues going into this season. I don't remember anyone complaining about them when we were 8-1-0. No one.
He replaced Bastian, Lazar, Haula, Dowling, Holtz, and Tatar with Gritsyuk, Brown, Glass, Dadonov, and Cotter. An upgrade in every single case.
He brought in Markstrom and Allen, two veteran goalies, one of them incredibly cheaply.
This has mostly been about injuries and top players underperforming in response to those injuries:
Our best defenseman, Pesce, got injured early on.
Dougie had 10 points through 40 games.
Bratt, easily our 2nd best offensive player, had a stretch with one goal in 25 games while Jack was out. ONE. GOAL.
Hischier and Meier disappeared.
The veteran number-one goalie we brought in STILL has a league-bottom save percentage.
Luke Hughes has been put in a position of enormous defensive responsibility, leads the team in average TOI by a full two minutes, and still makes the vast majority of plays he needs to make.
Luke makes mistakes BECAUSE he plays enormous minutes in condensed schedule against top lines. And the fans resent the mistakes purely because he got a contract at the start of the season.
And, by the way, kids: the season isn't over.
They may turn it around. They might not.
Unless you have zero emotional fortitude, no attention span, and incredibly selective hindsight, you'd know it's stupid to give up on any season, in any major sport, with 40% of the season still left to play and this much parity in the league.
ALOT of B S! Don't smell good!
Why is Luke #4 pick treated more wit kid gloves then Nemec #2 overall??? Someone needs to address this wit him or Sheldonā¦ its bsā¦
Tom I'm all about excuses Fitzgerald
Accountability? Dude you've been a ghost all season when we all knew this was going to happen. Also cross that bridge with Markstrom? We're at that bridge. Holy shit Fitzy is braindead dude.
Thanks Fitzy for sitting down and facing the questions. As a fan of the team this is what I was looking for from you and I appreciate you doing so. Go Devils!
Fire this incompetent no nuts having bum. Yes this is something that can be traded out of when it's caused by the obvious and known problems entering the summer even stated by Fitz himself, what was the quote about the roster not being good enough and needing significant change or something like that? So his big overhaul was Brown (39 gms, 9 G, 17 pts) solid 3rd liner, Dadonov (7 gms, 0 pts) hasn't been healthy enough for a grading but looks like could be a solid 4th liner, Lammikko (22 gms, 2 A, 2 pts) about as effective as Fitz's ability to make an in-season trade, Glendening (46 gms, 4 A, 4 pts) sure he's kinda solid in the dot and defensively you mean to say McLeod wouldn't have at least ONE goal for the team by now? He couldn't find anyone else better than these two? He hasn't been able to make a trade for a 4th liner (or more likely hasn't tried)?! Now yes Macewen did look promising in his less than 19 total minutes as a Devils 4th liner but just a ton of bad luck there.
Palat's cap should have been freed up asap, yeah it would have been hard but Dougie probably should have been dealt in the summer (now is that do better at talking Dougie into waiving his clause for SJS or find a trade with someone else he's ok with even if it results in a double and not a homer),
There's also the damning lack of bubbling talent coming from Utica/ in the system over his tenure. Fitz has overseen six drafts now with Casey and Daws being the only non-1st rounders to wear a Devils jersey meaning we haven't had any Shara, Bratt, Zett type picks and then of his seven 1st round picks Silayev is still an unknown but personally that is who I wanted us to get and have high hopes for the kid and it's still probably too early to make a call on Mukhamadullin but since he was a solid piece in the Timo trade I'll count him as .5, so I'd say if Silayev hits Fitz went 4.5/7 1st round picks (Luke, Nemo and Dawson being the obvious hits with Holtz and Stillman being the duds). So Fitz either went 50% or 64% in the 1st round and 5% with his 35 other picks (again I'll grant this should go up to 11% presuming Yegorov and Hameenaho can both crack the roster in the futrure)
Not buying tickets until Tom is fired hope youāre happy
When Ken speaks you listen
Look at my GM Dawg, we are so cooked. Fire Fitz
Markstrom does not give you a chance to win every game – that is flat out not true. And they need superior goaltending bc they sure as heck have issues defending giving up the first goal the majority of games and giving up 3, 4, 5 goals many nights. Hard to score and win when you are always chasing the game.
I like how he waited for a big win before he showed his face lol
Management definitely forced him into doing this. Bro has definitely seen the hate comments. āThis isnāt good enough weāre doing so and so and so and so but weāre not gonna fire anyone Everyoneās jobs are safe, and Iām just gonna answer more calls and than ultimately bring Sprong back from the KHL to save our team and then go back on vacation.ā
He doesn't even know his own coaches system??? The fact that he is so out of touch with his own colleagues should be enough reason to fire him.
Finally, good to hear from the GM. What a mess of a team as of late
āIt takes two to tangoā well he needs to take lessons.
Just finished the full thing. What a disaster. Iām glad he spoke but Iām also glad he reaffirmed what we all thought. This org is going nowhere fast and they have no idea how to fix it other than riding the storm out and seeing what survives when itās all said and done.
FIRE FITZ
The justification of the Markstrom extension alone is enough proof he needs to go.