Devils Parting Ways With President/GM Tom Fitzgerald

Yet another tri-state NHL club is making a seismic move in one of its top leadership positions.

Not long after the New York Islanders made a sudden, significant change at head coach, the New Jersey Devils appear to be blowing up their front office. Managing partner David Blitzer announced through the team on Monday that Fitzgerald "will depart the organization." Fitzgerald had been in various general manager roles since 2020, when he was named interim GM after Ray Shero was also relieved of his duties during the season. A notable distinction is that the Devils are describing this as if Fitzgerald made the choice to leave, as opposed to the way Shero's dismissal was characterized as a firing. Either way, midseason GM changes are becoming more commonplace in New Jersey than most other NHL homes.

The Devils showed enough down the stretch of the 2019-20 season for Fitzgerald to earn a promotion to full-time executive vice president/GM that summer. A 112-point season in 2022-23 led to Fitzgerald's rise to team president and GM during the 2023-24 campaign. The team has been unable to reach that level of success, and their regression in 2025-26 ultimately cost Fitzgerald his job--no matter how the team tried to word its statement.

Devils head coach Sheldon Keefe and the players took responsibility for the move, another sign that this is basically a firing disguised as something closer to a mutual parting of ways. And it is hard to fault Fitzgerald for a team that spent to the cap, and assembled a roster with a mix of high-end skill and veteran experience. It's hard to imagine that a team with Jack Hughes, Nico Hischier, Jesper Bratt, Dawson Mercer, Timo Meier, Luke Hughes, Dougie Hamilton, Brett Pesce, and Simon Nemec wouldn't be good enough to make the playoffs.

If you wanted to blame a player for this, it might have to be goaltender Jakob Markstrom. He ranks 37th out of 45 netminders (minimum 30 starts) with minus-0.227 goals saved above expected per 60 minutes, according to MoneyPuck. His .885 save percentage ranks 38th.

Either way, there's no question that this otherwise-talented Devils roster has underachieved this season. Fitzgerald is just the head that rolled. Keefe has to be feeling the heat, too.