{"id":392786,"date":"2026-01-07T09:22:09","date_gmt":"2026-01-07T09:22:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/392786\/"},"modified":"2026-01-07T09:22:09","modified_gmt":"2026-01-07T09:22:09","slug":"devils-continue-to-lose-when-will-gm-tom-fitzgerald-do-something-about-it","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/392786\/","title":{"rendered":"Devils continue to lose. When will GM Tom Fitzgerald do something about it?"},"content":{"rendered":"

ELMONT, NY \u2014 One hundred and ten days ago, Tom Fitzgerald<\/a> sat in front of the small contingent of Devils<\/a> reporters on the first day of training camp.<\/p>\n

Expectations were high. Spirits were positive. He was confident. So confident, in fact, that the general manager scoffed at a question about the team he built, the roster he assembled and the holes that existed there.<\/p>\n

\u201c\u2018Holes?\u2019 That\u2019s a pretty deep word there, \u2018holes,\u2019\u201d Fitzgerald said with a shrug. \u201cI don\u2019t know that we have that big of a hole.\u201d<\/p>\n

A season that began with so much promise \u2014 the Devils were among the best teams in the NHL<\/a> in the opening weeks of the season \u2014 has plummeted to levels of embarrassment even Fitzgerald (and, more importantly, the Devils\u2019 ownership group) can no longer ignore. <\/p>\n

A 9-0 drubbing at the hands of the Islanders on Tuesday at UBS Arena, just days after Luke Hughes was booed off the ice in a home loss to the Carolina Hurricanes, is the latest shred of evidence that this team is broken, lost and in a complete freefall.<\/p>\n

Fitzgerald, of course, hasn\u2019t met the media since that September day. <\/p>\n

Thanks to a mix of injuries, lack of finishing, terrible goaltending, a flawed system and a GM who can\u2019t make a move because of the no-move clauses he handed to players, the Devils have been nothing short of a disaster since late October. They\u2019re 15-18-2 since winning eight straight games early in the season and are three points shy of being last place in the Eastern Conference. The standings are tight, no doubt, but does anything inspire confidence that this Devils team can reignite that October magic and go on another run?<\/p>\n

Just look at Tuesday\u2019s pathetic performance.<\/p>\n

They generated chances, but couldn\u2019t finish (New Jersey had a 9-3 scoring chance edge in the first period, according to Natural Stat Trick). Goaltender Jacob Markstrom \u2014 who signed a two-year, $12 million contract in October \u2014 gave up three goals on the first four shots he faced. Coach Sheldon Keefe<\/a> ripped the team in animated fashion on the bench mere minutes after puck drop.<\/p>\n

Ownership must consider every possibility if they want to see playoff games in their building this April.<\/p>\n

Should they fire Fitzgerald, who was clearly wrong to scoff at his team\u2019s \u201choles?\u201d He turned a high-flying, skilled team that won the most games in franchise history into a stagnant two-way mess that might miss the playoffs (again) in Jack Hughes<\/a>\u2019 prime.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s also well-documented that, under Fitzgerald, the Devils have handed out a staggering 15 players no-move\/no-trade clauses, which is tied with the Hurricanes and Edmonton Oilers for the most in the NHL. Fitzgerald is constantly \u201cworking the phones,\u201d according to national insiders, but he\u2019s hamstrung his roster to the point where he might not be able to make any trade.<\/p>\n

Fitzgerald has also dodged three interview requests by NJ Advance Media since Oct. 1, while peacocking to national outlets when his club sat atop the standings<\/a>. Three general managers \u2014 Montreal\u2019s Kent Hughes, Winnipeg\u2019s Kevin Cheveldayoff and Ottawa\u2019s Steve Staios \u2014 have spoken with their local outlets this week.<\/p>\n

Or should the finger be pointed at Keefe, who kept Markstrom in despite coughing up nine goals on 24 shots? Keefe\u2019s emphasis on a two-way style hasn\u2019t seemed to mesh well with the Devils, who used to be analytical darlings, but now sit 25th in expected goals for percentage (47.99%) and 14th in Corsi percentage (50.35%), according to Money Puck.<\/p>\n

Regardless of who ownership identifies as the problem, it\u2019s clear something major needs to happen. New Jersey\u2019s core is far too talented to spiral this dramatically.<\/p>\n

If they don\u2019t change something \u2014 and fast \u2014 it will be another wasted year.<\/p>\n

If it does wind up being Fitzgerald, remember the Sabres just rattled off 10 straight wins after making a GM change. Perhaps the Devils can go on a similar run.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ELMONT, NY \u2014 One hundred and ten days ago, Tom Fitzgerald sat in front of the small contingent…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":392787,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[66],"tags":[385,99],"class_list":{"0":"post-392786","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nhl","8":"tag-nhl","9":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/392786","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=392786"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/392786\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/392787"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=392786"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=392786"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=392786"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}