In a move that was surprising due to the timing, the New Jersey Devils finally fired team president and general manager Tom Fitzgerald on Monday.

The decision to move on from Fitzgerald came with the Devils making a desperate push for the playoffs. Despite winning 12 of their last 18 games (12-5-1) with Olympic hero Jack Hughes leading the way with 33 points over that span, they face elimination later tonight when the Flyers visit Newark. A regulation loss to the Flyers and a Senators overtime or shootout loss to the Lightning would eliminate the Devils.

The change upstairs comes at the right time. Fitzgerald took over as interim GM in 2019-2020. After missing the postseason in three straight years, the Devils finally returned in 2022-23. Led by Hughes’ 43 goals and 99 points, they defeated the Rangers in the first round to advance to the Metropolitan Division Final. However, they were eliminated in five games by the Hurricanes.

During the playoffs, two of Fitzgerald’s key acquisitions paid dividends in the first round triumph over the Rangers. Erik Haula paced the Devils with four goals and six points, including scoring a big goal to help put away Game 7. Ondrej Palat also had a good series by tying Hughes for second in team scoring with five points. In a must win Game 3, free agent addition Dougie Hamilton scored in overtime to help the Devils come back from an 0-2 deficit to win the series.

As promising as that season was, 2023-24 was an unmitigated nightmare. An injury riddled season limited Hughes to 62 games and 74 points. Unsteady play in the net from both Akira Schmid and Vitek Vanecek led to Fitzgerald pulling the plug on both. Eventually, each was traded. Jake Allen was brought in to help replace them.

The Devils went from 112 points to 81 points in a disappointing season that cost coach Lindy Ruff his job. Travis Green wasn’t any better, eventually leaving to go coach the Senators. In an irony of sorts, Ruff went back home to Buffalo, where in his second season, he has guided the Sabres back to the playoffs for the first time in 15 years.

With production dropping off for several key players, including captain Nico Hischer and Dawson Mercer, the Devils hired Sheldon Keefe as their new head coach. Fitzgerald signed Brett Pesce, Stefan Noesen, and acquired Jacob Markstrom to make upgrades to the roster.

After getting off to a good start, Markstrom wasn’t the same following an injury, struggling to rediscover his early form. He was often outplayed by Allen, who helped form a 1A and 1B goalie tandem that helped the team reach the postseason with 91 points.

Another injury to Hughes kept him out for the playoffs. Without their best player, the Devils were no match for the Hurricanes, who sent them packing in five games. Hischier paced them with four goals and Timo Meier had two goals and two helpers. The Devils struggled defensively against the very stingy Canes, who had the better of the play at 5-on-5 to make life easier on Frederik Andersen and Pyotr Kochetkov.

Entering 2025-26, there was anticipation for a healthier Hughes-led squad to take the next step in a mediocre division. Instead, Hughes accidentally cut himself with a knife at a Chicago steakhouse to send the season into disarray. Anything that could go wrong did, turning a 12-4-1 start into a lost year. The Devils struggled to score goals without him. Hughes rushed back but wasn’t close to 100 percent due to recovering from finger surgery.

The team-wide issues included Hamilton hardly producing due to the distraction of being asked by Fitzgerald to waive his no-movement clause. Instead, he rejected the deal and stayed put. His play was unsteady with the defensive side in particular a big issue that hurt the team. Keefe continued to play an inconsistent Markstrom, who had a penchant for allowing bad goals during losses. The team defense didn’t help, either.

With Hughes a bit banged up, the Devils chose to rest him for the Olympics. As it turned out, it was a wise decision. Back to full health, Hughes had a great tournament that was highlighted by him scoring the golden goal to clinch Team USA’s first Olympic gold medal in men’s ice hockey since 1980.

The memorable game against Canada brought so much attention to the sport and Hughes, who was honored by the team in their first home game back against the Sabres on Feb. 25. In a classy move, Hughes brought out American teammate Tage Thompson before speaking to the cheering crowd.

Buoyed by the greatest moment of his career, Hughes has been a different player since. In fact, he leads all skaters with 36 points (13-23-36) since the NHL returned from the Winter Games. His play has been front and center during the Devils’ revival. It was highlighted by him recording his fourth career hat trick in a 6-3 win over the Rangers on Mar. 7. Since that point, he’s had five three-point games, including a career-high five in a victory over the Capitals on Apr. 2.

Even with the Devils rolling down the stretch, they entered tonight with 83 points, which trailed the third place Flyers and second wild card Senators by seven points. Unfortunately, with Fitzgerald departing, the run has come too late.

Unless the unthinkable happens. It would take the Devils winning the remaining five and getting lots of help in order to leapfrog the teams ahead of them. That includes the Islanders, who fired Patrick Roy with four games remaining, replacing him with Peter Deboer. Is it too late for the ex-Devils coach to get the Islanders into the playoffs? They’ve lost four in a row and have 89 points.

With the Devils finally deciding to move on from Fitzgerald, who wasn’t able to improve the roster enough to turn them into a serious contender, rumors have circled around former Devil Brendan Shanahan being linked to a role as the new team president of hockey operations.

The Hall of Famer was in a similar role with the Maple Leafs, where Keefe was the head coach before departing along with former GM Kyle Dubas. Despite having plenty of success during the regular season, the Leafs only advanced out of the first round twice with a core that featured Auston Matthews, Mitch Marner, John Tavares, and William Nylander.

If Shanahan was hired, he could then bring in his own general manager. Something that would be much better than having one person take on dual roles as Fitzgerald had. A look across the Hudson demonstrates why it’s better to have two voices working together to assemble a successful team.

It’s not like the Devils don’t have key pieces. Hughes is signed over the long-term with linemate Jesper Bratt and Timo Meier, who’s been very streaky since signing through 2031 for a hefty $8.8 million cap hit. Hischier has another year remaining on a deal that pays him an AAV of $7.25 million. When asked about the future, he was non-committal, opting to give a standard answer.

“I’m focusing on playing hockey here and I still have one more year. So, I’m with the Devils right now and then we’ll see what happens,” he said.

In regards to Fitzgerald’s upcoming departure, Hischier and Bratt took responsibility for where the team is.

“We weren’t performing the way we should have. In business, things like that happen. Yeah, I am a bit disappointed but understand the business side of it. Still, I am very, very thankful for him and what he’s done for me,” Hischier said.

As for Keefe, the second-year Devils bench boss will have to wait and see if he gets to stick around.

“I’ll be part of an evaluation process that’ll happen at the end of this season.

Obviously they’ve got some decisions to make on who the new GM will be & what the leadership of the team looks like. I’ll be a part of that discussion & evaluation.”

Assuming Shanahan takes over as team president, he knows Keefe well. Given the uncertainty surrounding the coaching carousel with Deboer off the market, and Vegas opting to replace Bruce Cassidy with John Tortorella, who knows what to expect.

In assessing this season, Fitzgerald made one smart move by signing Connor Brown last summer to a four-year contract worth $12 million. Brown has been arguably the most consistent Devil by posting 17 goals and 23 assists for 40 points in 70 contests. He’s been playing up on the number one line with Hughes and Bratt.

The veteran has performed well despite probably not being the ideal fit. A strong two-way player who is better suited for a third line checking role, which includes the penalty kill, the 32-year-old deserves a lot of credit. He’s been a bright spot for the Devils in an underwhelming season.

Unfortunately, for as well as both Brown and Cody Glass have played, there are disappointments such as Palat, who was so ineffective that Fitzgerald dumped the remainder of his contract to the Islanders for Maxim Tsyplakov. A wise move that will create more cap space.

After scoring 22 goals last season, Noesen has been out most of the year. When he played, he was a non-factor with just three goals in 38 games. His contract expires next year. Like most aging veterans Fitzgerald added, he was given a moderated no-trade clause.

Similar to Rangers team president and general manager Chris Drury, Fitzgerald was guilty of doing that with several underperforming players, including Evgenii Dadonov, who has a whopping one goal in 23 games after inking a one-year $1 million incentive laden contract.

If there was one signing that signaled the end, it was extending Markstrom for another two years at $6 million AAV last Halloween. He was off to a bad start. What was the rush? Even with him playing better lately, the 36-year-old veteran still had a goals-against-average north of 3.00 and a save percentage below .890 for the season. Plenty of eyebrows were raised when the move was made.

Fitzgerald also rewarded Jonathan Kovacevic with a six-year contract worth $24 million after the third pair defenseman had a strong first half but struggled in the second half of 2024-25. It never made sense due to Simon Nemec, who’s emerged as one of the Devils’ better defensemen. His 11 goals rank second behind Hamilton. Nemec recorded his first hat trick in a come from behind 4-3 win over the Blackhawks on Nov. 12. He got the overtime winner in the victory after tying it up.

With the 21-year-old set to become a restricted free agent, he’s due for a significant raise. The question for whoever takes over is whether or not Nemec is in the team’s future plans. Under Fitzgerald, he tried unsuccessfully to move him at the trade deadline to the Sharks for forward William Eklund.

With Luke Hughes signed through 2032 for $9 million AAV, it remains to be seen if they’ll be able to keep Nemec. Much depends on what happens with Hamilton.

The Devils need to surround Jack Hughes with better talent. They could decide to use Nemec in a trade to upgrade their forwards. Despite the team scoring much more recently, they still entered Tuesday tied for 26th with 2.78 goals-per-game. Hardly enough to support Markstrom and an immobile defense that has been exposed way too often.

Facing elimination, they entered the third period trailing the Flyers 4-1. Whatever happens, a crucial off-season awaits.