The NHL’s Olympic break has come and gone; seven New Jersey Devils players went out and represented their national team in the competition. While only Jack Hughes came home with a medal, five of the seven including him went out and looked at least as good as their best games this season in New Jersey. While the jury is somewhat out on the performances of Jonas Siegenthaler and Jesper Bratt, you could argue the other five (Hughes, Nico Hischier, Timo Meier, Simon Nemec and Jacob Markstrom) looked better
at the Olympics than they have in New Jersey. So what gives?
If we are led to assume that the Monstars haven’t suddenly taken up hockey, zapped the powers of the Devils star players, let them temporarily have them back for the Olympics, only to take them again prior to yesterday’s game, then there’s simply one conclusion left. Something within either management, coaching, or both is hampering the New Jersey Devils. Credit to the Buffalo Sabres as a team on the rise for their play last night, but the amount of clear cut, clean looks the Devils had that they failed to capitalize on is just ridiculous. The Sabres did not look like that much better of a team, and I’d go so far as to argue there were stretches of the game where they made more mistakes than the Devils did. The team as a whole just continues to look, for a lack of a better word, uncomfortable on the ice.
That means one of two things: either Sheldon Keefe’s coaching system isn’t working, or Tom Fitzgerald hasn’t surrounded his star players with the right supplemental pieces…or, once again, both. Keefe has proven he can be a good NHL coach, but part of what makes a coach good (or at least a good fit) is whether or not they can get the most out of their players. Right now for Keefe, that does not appear to be the case with the Devils failing to meet the expectations upon them by a significant margin. After yet another loss yesterday, the team sits with the second worst record in the east and seventh worst in the entire league.
For a group that was supposed to build off of two playoff appearances in the last three seasons, this year’s team looks more like a PSA for how to play hockey as awkwardly as possible while achieving minimal results. The team looks uninspired on the ice; we can speculate as to players feelings being hurt, guys being physically injured, or if there are other factors at work here. What we don’t need to speculate on is watching how Keefe’s system isn’t allowing the Devils to excel at…anything really.
And yet maybe more of the blame should be passed to Tom Fitzgerald. We’ve circled back, as we have in numerous other discussions, to the fact that this is his team, his design, his machine. If the cogs aren’t all fitting, then maybe it’s time to move a few cogs out, bring some different ones in and get the machine up and running. Fitzgerald, however, has also clogged his machine with the glue of no trade and no movements clauses, making it cost more in different ways to remove the pieces. I could go on with this metaphor, but you get the idea; Fitzgerald has put himself in a tough spot to remodel the team. Yet that’s exactly what good NHL GMs do: they find ways to reshape a team that isn’t winning when they need to. While Fitz earned some initial goodwill with the Devils fan base from some of his early moves and signings, that positivity is fading.
If 2025-26 winds up being a wash of a season (and it is certainly trending that way) then the Devils ownership needs to make changes this summer. Going from a team on the rise to dwelling in the basement of the league again is unacceptable for the amount of talent on this team and the money they’re making. Again, good GMs do what they need to do to improve their team. If that means Tom Fitzgerald needs to cut Sheldon Keefe loose to start getting results, then so be it. Otherwise maybe it’s time for the owners to cut Fitz himself loose.
What are your thoughts on the Devils coaching and management situation after another disappointment last night? Do you think the coaching staff needs to go first, or Fitzgerald? Would you rather see both get sent packing at the same time? Is there any chance you think Fitzgerald can make some moves to right the ship? Would you even trust him to be the one to do so? Leave any and all comments down below and thanks as always for reading!
