It’s a free article, but in case anyone has problems accessing the site:
__Just days after taking over as the Devils general manager in the summer of 2020, Tom Fitzgerald told people his primary wish was for the once-proud franchise to regain its relevance.
Some 36 months later, the franchise is proud and rocking once more, much to the credit of Fitzgerald’s moves. In the spring, the Devils won their first playoff round since 2012, squeezing by the cross-river-rival Rangers in seven games, and are poised to enter 2023-24 with one of the best young, energized rosters in the league.
“We’re excited,” said Fitzgerald, who grew up in Billerica and went on to play nearly 1,100 NHL games as a versatile forward and respected voice for seven teams, including his final season with the Bruins. “I don’t think there’s a target on our back, per se, but I think teams realized we were a good team last year.”
For too long, the Devils were a soft touch in the East, the bottom following out for the franchise after losing to the Kings in the 2012 Cup Final. The Devils were playoff DNQs (Did Not Qualify) for the next five years, then lost to the Lightning in Round 1 in 2018, and went on to scuffle through four more DNQ seasons prior to dumping the Blueshirts last spring.
Fitzgerald began the comeback story with some nifty work at the 2020 trade deadline, his interim GM title yet to be lifted, when he wheeled out Blake Coleman, Sami Vatanen, Wayne Simmonds, and Andy Greene. Those moves alone didn’t persuade ownership to hand him the keys to the franchise, but they helped to underscore his vision and conviction on how to shape and build a team.
No team is ever a finished product, but a little more than three years later, Fitzgerald says he has the team he wants.
“I’m just trying to put the right pieces together,” he said, “and get rid of the wrong pieces … and I’ve done it.”
New Jersey’s strong suit is at forward, where Fitzgerald has a stable of slick young twenty-somethings, led by Jack Hughes and Nico Hischier, both of whom were drafted No. 1 overall prior to Fitzgerald being named GM.
Fitzgerald’s biggest, priciest hires have been ex-Bruins defenseman Dougie Hamilton, acquired as a free agent to lead the offense from the back end, and right wing Timo Meier, acquired in February in a massive body swap with the Sharks in which San Jose also netted a pair of first-round picks from the Devils.
Meier brought much needed experience and weight to that superb cast of young forwards.
It was just over a year ago, Fitzgerald was lamenting the state of affairs in the Devils net: “Just give me reliable, solid goaltending … that’s all … we can score enough … six goals here, seven goals there. But what good is that if you end up losing all the time by a goal?”
The answer largely turned out to be Vitek Vanecek, who had been groomed by the Capitals as potentially their next franchise goalie. At 26, he was snapped up via trade by Fitzgerald, who promptly signed him to a three-year, $10.2 million extension. He delivered with a career-best 33-11-4 mark in his first regular season, prior to his disappointing 1-3 performance in the playoffs when Swiss rookie Akira Schmid took over the No. 1 role.
Veteran coach Lindy Ruff, a coaching newbie as an assistant in Florida when Fitzgerald played for the Panthers in the ‘90s, was Fitzgerald’s immediate pick to run the bench. It looked like a classic case of bench-boss recycling, a dependable name put in charge until a bright young leader was hired to take charge of a team ready to compete.
By the end of 2021-22, with a second playoff DNQ under Ruff, Devils fans were screaming for a coaching change, even chanting “Fire Lindy!” at home games. But Fitzgerald stuck by Ruff, and now the 63-year-old old-school coach looks like a perfect fit for a young team ready to make life miserable for most of its opponents.
When Fitzgerald took over, New Jersey was a sad-sack franchise that free agents avoided and top prospects prayed would skip by their name in the draft. Now it has the brightest outlook of the three Metro New York outposts.
“Our pillars are set,” said Fitzgerald, pondering, like all GMs, how his roster pieces fit in the quirky salary cap world. “Luke Hughes is going to cost me what next summer? We’ll probably look to get him on an eight-year deal. What’s [Dawson] Mercer going to cost? Tyler Toffoli [acquired via trade this summer] … they all want to stay. They all want to be in New Jersey. It’s a destination now. People want to come to New Jersey.”__
Written by Kevin Paul Dupont for the Boston Globe’s Sunday Hockey Notes September 23, 2023.
1 Comment
It’s a free article, but in case anyone has problems accessing the site:
__Just days after taking over as the Devils general manager in the summer of 2020, Tom Fitzgerald told people his primary wish was for the once-proud franchise to regain its relevance.
Some 36 months later, the franchise is proud and rocking once more, much to the credit of Fitzgerald’s moves. In the spring, the Devils won their first playoff round since 2012, squeezing by the cross-river-rival Rangers in seven games, and are poised to enter 2023-24 with one of the best young, energized rosters in the league.
“We’re excited,” said Fitzgerald, who grew up in Billerica and went on to play nearly 1,100 NHL games as a versatile forward and respected voice for seven teams, including his final season with the Bruins. “I don’t think there’s a target on our back, per se, but I think teams realized we were a good team last year.”
For too long, the Devils were a soft touch in the East, the bottom following out for the franchise after losing to the Kings in the 2012 Cup Final. The Devils were playoff DNQs (Did Not Qualify) for the next five years, then lost to the Lightning in Round 1 in 2018, and went on to scuffle through four more DNQ seasons prior to dumping the Blueshirts last spring.
Fitzgerald began the comeback story with some nifty work at the 2020 trade deadline, his interim GM title yet to be lifted, when he wheeled out Blake Coleman, Sami Vatanen, Wayne Simmonds, and Andy Greene. Those moves alone didn’t persuade ownership to hand him the keys to the franchise, but they helped to underscore his vision and conviction on how to shape and build a team.
No team is ever a finished product, but a little more than three years later, Fitzgerald says he has the team he wants.
“I’m just trying to put the right pieces together,” he said, “and get rid of the wrong pieces … and I’ve done it.”
New Jersey’s strong suit is at forward, where Fitzgerald has a stable of slick young twenty-somethings, led by Jack Hughes and Nico Hischier, both of whom were drafted No. 1 overall prior to Fitzgerald being named GM.
Fitzgerald’s biggest, priciest hires have been ex-Bruins defenseman Dougie Hamilton, acquired as a free agent to lead the offense from the back end, and right wing Timo Meier, acquired in February in a massive body swap with the Sharks in which San Jose also netted a pair of first-round picks from the Devils.
Meier brought much needed experience and weight to that superb cast of young forwards.
It was just over a year ago, Fitzgerald was lamenting the state of affairs in the Devils net: “Just give me reliable, solid goaltending … that’s all … we can score enough … six goals here, seven goals there. But what good is that if you end up losing all the time by a goal?”
The answer largely turned out to be Vitek Vanecek, who had been groomed by the Capitals as potentially their next franchise goalie. At 26, he was snapped up via trade by Fitzgerald, who promptly signed him to a three-year, $10.2 million extension. He delivered with a career-best 33-11-4 mark in his first regular season, prior to his disappointing 1-3 performance in the playoffs when Swiss rookie Akira Schmid took over the No. 1 role.
Veteran coach Lindy Ruff, a coaching newbie as an assistant in Florida when Fitzgerald played for the Panthers in the ‘90s, was Fitzgerald’s immediate pick to run the bench. It looked like a classic case of bench-boss recycling, a dependable name put in charge until a bright young leader was hired to take charge of a team ready to compete.
By the end of 2021-22, with a second playoff DNQ under Ruff, Devils fans were screaming for a coaching change, even chanting “Fire Lindy!” at home games. But Fitzgerald stuck by Ruff, and now the 63-year-old old-school coach looks like a perfect fit for a young team ready to make life miserable for most of its opponents.
When Fitzgerald took over, New Jersey was a sad-sack franchise that free agents avoided and top prospects prayed would skip by their name in the draft. Now it has the brightest outlook of the three Metro New York outposts.
“Our pillars are set,” said Fitzgerald, pondering, like all GMs, how his roster pieces fit in the quirky salary cap world. “Luke Hughes is going to cost me what next summer? We’ll probably look to get him on an eight-year deal. What’s [Dawson] Mercer going to cost? Tyler Toffoli [acquired via trade this summer] … they all want to stay. They all want to be in New Jersey. It’s a destination now. People want to come to New Jersey.”__
Written by Kevin Paul Dupont for the Boston Globe’s Sunday Hockey Notes September 23, 2023.