Ownership and Management
Owners: Josh Harris and David Blitzer (Harris-Blitzer Sports & Entertainment)
Since taking ownership in 2013, HBSE took ownership of a New Jersey Devils team that was falling off a cliff from their dominant playoff seasons. They oversaw the rebuild with the hirings of Ray Shero and Tom Fitzgerald, who worked to overhaul the team’s prospect pool after years of win-now mentality under Lou Lamoriello. Still, HBSE has rarely gotten involved in hockey operations, only visibly stepping in after the collapse of the Taylor Hall-led Devils to make the decision to part ways with Shero and elevate
Fitzgerald to the general manager position. It at least indicated that, after a few years of rebuilding and then a playoff appearance, the ownership group was trying to bring the team back to its winning ways.
A couple years ago, John wrote at length about the then 10 years of HBSE ownership. In said article, John mentions the many sports ownership ventures Harris and Blitzer have gotten into. In addition to the 76ers and Devils, Harris now owns the Washington Commanders, while Blitzer has a chunk of the Cleveland Guardians. Both have invested in soccer, as well, while they have even gotten into niche sports of late such as SlamBall. And in the future, they will be owners of the Philadelphia WNBA team.
This may lead fans to wonder how much they really get involved with the Devils, but there are pros and cons to a hands-off approach, and even to being a part of a large group of sports team holdings. First, the Devils do not have to worry about being huge profit-turners, though having the Hughes brothers and a playoff hockey team puts them in a good position in that regard. The Washington Commanders and Philadelphia 76ers are lucrative franchises in their own right, and the Cleveland Guardians’ low-expense approach to AL Central baseball makes them generally turn profits year over year (I would expect them to spend more money if Blitzer takes majority control in 2028, though). The point is: HBSE can focus on team success more than they have to focus on pure revenue and profits, at least in theory.
There is another component there that may make fans sore, though. The Prudential Center, owned by HBSE since their acquisition of the team, has seen some rough years of late. Once among the top NHL arenas, age and overuse has led to the Prudential Center usually being ranked in the middle of the pack among NHL arenas. The food has gotten worse, the overuse (as one of the busiest, if not the most, in the world) has led to worsened ice quality at times, and fans have become bitter about it. The Prudential Center has attempted to shift gears in their concessions contracts over the last couple years, but there is still a long way to go before they return to the level of quality the arena had until about the Covid pandemic.
The Front Office
Tom Fitzgerald, General Management and President of Hockey Operations
Even more important than the in-arena fan experience, though, is the work of the general manager. Tom Fitzgerald has been at the helm of the team since Ray Shero and the Devils parted ways in 2020, and he has been with the organization since 2015. Since taking control of the front office in 2020, though, Fitzgerald has overseen:
- The extensions of Jack Hughes and Jesper Bratt
- The signings of Dougie Hamilton, Brett Pesce, and Brenden Dillon
- The signing of Ondrej Palat
- The trades for Jonas Siegenthaler, Timo Meier, Jacob Markstrom, Jake Allen, Johnny Kovacevic, and Cody Glass
- The trade for John Marino and his eventual trade to Utah
- The trade for Ryan Graves and the decisions to let Damon Severson and Graves walk in free agency
- The trade of Yegor Sharangovich for Tyler Toffoli
- The signings of Stefan Noesen, Connor Brown, and Evgenii Dadonov
- The hiring and firing of Lindy Ruff
- The hiring of Sheldon Keefe
In the draft, Fitzgerald has had some hits and picks that are trending to be hits:
- Dawson Mercer (2020 18th overall)
- Nico Daws (2020 84th overall)
- Ethan Edwards (2020 120th overall)
- Luke Hughes (2021 4th overall)
- Jakub Malek (2021 100th overall)
- Simon Nemec (2022 2nd overall)
- Seamus Casey (2022 46th overall)
- Daniil Orlov (2022 110th overall)
- Lenni Hameenaho (2023 58th overall)
- Cam Squires (2023 122nd overall)
- Anton Silayev (2024 10th overall)
- Mikhail Yegorov (2024 49th overall)
And some misses:
- Alex Holtz (2020 7th overall)
- Chase Stillman (2021 29th overall)
- (Most of his 2020 draftees after the 4th round)
- (Most other draftees in other years still too fresh to call misses)
Fitzgerald has traded some of his draft picks during previous seasons, as well. He traded 2020 first rounder (20th overall) Shakir Mukhamadullin to San Jose in the Timo Meier deal. He sent 2021 seventh rounder (203rd overall) Zakhar Bardakov to Colorado in the Kurtis MacDermid deal (a throw-in that has proven to be an unwise move). He included Chase Stillman in the Cody Glass trade. He traded 2024 third rounder (91st overall) Herman Traff to Anaheim in the Brian Dumoulin deal last season.
In all, as Tom Fitzgerald approaches the end of his fifth calendar year with the New Jersey Devils, the team has taken more steps forward than steps backwards. Still, Fitzgerald has not been without his frustrating moments. His delayed approach to addressing the goaltending situations in 2022 and 2024 led to a lot of fan discontent, and it can sometimes seem like his patience can wade into the realm of slight negligence. But with two playoff appearances in three seasons following a rebuild, the Devils appear to be on the right track.
Dave MacKinnon and Kate Madigan, Assistant General Managers
I would not be the first to say that the New Jersey Devils might have a few too many people in their front office (which is far more extensive than even detailed here). But in Dave MacKinnon and Kate Madigan, the Devils have rewarded two hires with internal promotions, putting them in a great spot as professionals. Ray Shero hired Dave MacKinnon in 2016 as the Director of Player Personnel, elevating him to the Assistant General Manager position in 2019-20. After Tom Fitzgerald became General Manager in 2020, MacKinnon also became the General Manager of the Utica Comets in 2021, and he has been interviewed for GM positions around the NHL over the last few summers.
Kate Madigan has an even more impressive journey within the organization. Hired by Shero as an analyst in 2017, Madigan was promoted to being Director of Professional Scouting in 2019 and then to being Director of Hockey Operations in 2020. In 2022, Fitzgerald elevated her to the Assistant General Manager position. As an Assistant General Manager, Madigan has sway in roster construction and amateur scouting, and she has been visibly dedicated to the team over the years.
Martin Brodeur, Executive VP of Hockey Operations
Aside from his contributions to the “Jersey Jersey” alternate, Martin Brodeur has had a largely under-the-radar tenure as a New Jersey Devils executive. After retiring from the St. Louis Blues organization, he gained experience as an Assistant General Manager before returning to the Devils on the business side of the front office in 2018. However, this did not last forever, as he was named an Executive Vice President of Hockey Operations in 2019, fully returning to hockey operations in 2021. Brodeur has set himself up as a future general manager, having experience on both sides of the front office duties. But for now, it seems Brodeur is happy with managing the goaltending from top-to-bottom in the organization.
Andy Greene and Chuck Fletcher, Advisors to Hockey Operations
Chuck Fletcher, the Senior Advisor to General Manager Tom Fitzgerald, has been with the Devils before. Prior to being hired as General Manager of the Philadelphia Flyers in 2018, he was an advisor to Ray Shero for what seemed like days. But after he was fired by the Flyers in 2023, Fitzgerald brought him back for another stint with the Devils organization. The move was not entirely well-received among fans, as Fletcher had a reputation of poor decision making with his previous franchises. Still, Fitzgerald has a long history with Fletcher, so he is a trusted and well-liked voice.
Andy Greene, on the other hand, has no suspicion directed towards him. The former Devils captain retired on a one-day contract with the team in 2022 before returning as an advisor prior to last season after occasionally taking part in Devils practices. Per the Devils’ announcement at the time, Greene now works with player personnel, scouting, and coaching, which is not very far off from what he was doing with the team between 2022 and 2024. He just has a title now, and no Devils fan would be unhappy to see him around.
The Coaching Staff
Sheldon Keefe, Head Coach
Sheldon Keefe had a promising first season with the New Jersey Devils last year after parting ways with the Toronto Maple Leafs. When he signed a contract to be the Devils’ head coach, it was lauded as a move to bring structure back to a Devils team that had gotten rather loose and run-and-gun-happy under former head coach Lindy Ruff. For Keefe, however, last year was a step back in the grand scheme of his career’s success. With the Toronto Maple Leafs, Keefe had never seen his team earn under 62% of possible standings points, and the Devils only earned 55.5% of possible points last season. This was disappointing for a team that had a rather hot start, going 24-11-3 through their first 38 games (which came out to 63.2% of possible standings points through that point).
There were some massive improvements under Keefe, though. The Devils again had a top-five defense, only allowing 220 goals against with the second-ranked penalty kill in the league at 82.67% efficiency. With the league’s 20th-ranked offense, though, Keefe has some work to do with their play in that end. When he was in Toronto, stars such as Auston Matthews, Mitch Marner, William Nylander, and John Tavares had no issues producing, driving the Maple Leafs to consistently have one of the league’s best offenses, though Toronto had better depth during his tenure than the Devils did last season.
After an offseason that saw the additions of Connor Brown, Evgenii Dadonov, and Arseny Gritsyuk to the NHL roster, Keefe will have a much better roster that should be able to break into the top-10 offenses once more. Keefe has also been able to continue adding to the coaching staff as the former staff under Ruff continues to trickle away. Last year, Keefe hired Jeremy Colliton to be an assistant coach and the director of the power play. This year, Keefe hired Brad Shaw to replace former defensive assistant Ryan McGill. With now both of his top assistants being his hires, Keefe should not have any issues fully implementing his systems.
Keefe is one of the most fiery coaches in the National Hockey League. A man of prodigiously intense reputation, Keefe was fined last season for his conduct towards Wes McCauley, with whom Keefe has a questionable past, after McCauley did not assign a penalty on the play that led to Jack Hughes’s season-ending injury. But Keefe has gotten into heated arguments with many other officials around the league, and he has been doing so since his time in Toronto. My take on that is that Keefe cares deeply about winning, and he is not afraid to let officials know when their decisions tip the scales.
Brad Shaw, Defensive Assistant Coach
After the team parted ways with defensive assistant Ryan McGill, Sheldon Keefe set out to find a suitable replacement. Brad Shaw, a long-time assistant in the National Hockey League, fit that bill perfectly. As detailed when he was hired by the Devils, Shaw led the St. Louis Blues defense when they were one of the best in the league from 2011 to 2016 (after being hired in 2006) before transforming the Columbus Blue Jackets defense into a rather stingy one from 2016 to 2021. With the Philadelphia Flyers, Shaw worked with John Tortorella to give Philadelphia fans an over-achieving team in three seasons before Tortorella grew tired of their front office’s direction. Shaw had hoped to take the head coaching job from there, but Daniel Briere passed him over to hire Rick Tocchet.
With the Devils, Shaw will look to take the defense to the next level. Working with Luke Hughes (his second Hughes brother defenseman after coaching the Canucks for one season in 2021-22) and Simon Nemec, Shaw is also responsible for overseeing the growth of the two defensemen Tom Fitzgerald hopes to see lead the franchise over the next decade. Carrying a great track record of success with him, Shaw should excite Devils fans who enjoy a good defensive team.
Jeremy Colliton, Offensive Assistant Coach
Jeremy Colliton made waves in the NHL when he became the youngest active head coach in the league when he replaced Joel Quenneville behind the bench in Chicago in 2018. Now 40 years old, Colliton is in his second year with the Devils after manning the helm of the Abbotsford Canucks from 2022 to 2024, following his firing from Chicago in 2022. For a young head coach in Chicago, Colliton was not dealt an easy hand with a questionable, aging veteran group that was used to success, and things went south after three mediocre seasons.
As the offensive assistant, Colliton has a lot of work to do to improve the team. The Devils were not their best at five-on-five last season, but they were outstanding on the power play. As noted above, the Devils do have much better depth to play with this season, but Colliton needs to rally his forwards to create more goals and become the dominant team that they know they can be.
Sergei Brylin, Assistant Coach
Another man who needs no introduction to Devils fans is Sergei Brylin. A career Devil, Brylin has continued that loyalty through his coaching career. He first joined the Albany Devils as a consultant in 2012 before being an assistant for the Devils’ AHL affiliates from 2013 to 2022. Since then, he has been an assistant at the NHL level, finally getting to the bench last year. When Brad Shaw was hired this year, Sheldon Keefe noted that Brylin would take Chris Taylor’s previous role behind the bench, working most with younger players. Players such as Yegor Sharangovich have sung Brylin’s praises in the past, and Brylin will surely be working with Arseny Gritsyuk on his transition to the NHL game this year.
Dave Rogalski, Goaltending Coach
One of the more notorious members of the coaching staff to Devils fans, Dave Rogalski has been the Devils’ goaltending coach since 2020. In that time frame, the Devils have seen some horrific stretches of goaltending in the 2021-22 and 2023-24 seasons, leading to many fan-led calls for a new goaltending coach. However, last year was the first time Rogalski had a healthy true starter in Jacob Markstrom, while Jake Allen had an excellent season as the backup. With the Devils looking better in net, Rogalski’s continuation in his role became much more palatable as well.
Meghan Duggan, Director of Player Development
Formerly the captain of the women’s Team USA hockey team, Meghan Duggan has been the Director of Player Development since 2022 after being hired in 2021. For her work with the Devils, Tom Fitzgerald has sung Duggan’s praises to the media. She works with players in Utica and New Jersey, doing video work while organizing development and practice plans for each player. Having an accomplished player and a Team USA leader like Duggan seems like a massive benefit for the players, and she already has a good working relationship with the young defensemen of the future.
Eric Weinrich, Player Development Coach
Working with Duggan in player development, Eric Weinrich has been with the New Jersey Devils in that department since 2015. Of course, as a 1985 second round draft pick of the Devils, he had played 173 games with the organization before being sent away as part of the Bobby Holik trade. Weinrich did have to step over to Utica as an interim assistant last season due to the firing of Kevin Dineen, but he is back in his role as a player development coach. With players like Shane LaChance, Lenni Hameenaho, Cam Squires, Seamus Casey, and Ethan Edwards likely working out of Utica for most of this season, Weinrich’s cooperation with Duggan in working with them will have implications for the team’s success later this year and for years into the future.
Final Thoughts and Your Thoughts
With no shortage of recognizable names on the coaching staff and in the front office, the New Jersey Devils have assembled quite a group to guide their players to contention. Assuming the wheels do not fall off the bus this season, though, and assuming the Devils actually have a bit of a playoff run in 2026, I imagine that some of these people might have opportunities to take higher positions elsewhere in the near future. If the Devils run a great offense, Jeremy Colliton could end up taking a head coaching gig elsewhere. The Devils had three in the organization interview for the Penguins’ general manager position a couple years ago. But everyone in the organization, from Tom Fitzgerald and down, will have to do the hard work this year to get those looks again.
With that said, what do you think of the front office and coaching staff this year? It does not look much different from previous years, but feel free to leave your thoughts in the comments below.
