Devils GM hints at changes after early 2025 Stanley Cup Playoff exit

The New Jersey Devils were the first team eliminated from the Stanley Cup Playoffs in 2025 after bowing out to the Carolina Hurricanes in five games in Round 1. And although injuries played a huge role in the team’s ultimate fate, general manager Tom Fitzgerald made it clear that changes will be coming this summer.

“We won’t be coming back with the same group. Because it was just not good enough,” the executive said at the Devils’ end-of-season media availability on Thursday. “I like our group, my job is to continue to better the group. And we’ve got a lot of decisions to make on certain players, bringing guys back, trade players.”

Head coach Sheldon Keefe shared a similar sentiment.

“We took steps this season, without question. When I reflect on it, my message is there’s a foundation here now,” the bench boss said. “But when I look at it, we finished 16 out of 32 teams in the regular season. That’s average. And we’re not here to be average. We want to be better.”

The Devils looked like one of the league’s better teams early on in the 2024-25 campaign, roaring out to a 24-11-3 record at the end of December. But things started to fall apart in the second half of the year, including devastating injuries to Jack Hughes and Dougie Hamilton.

New Jersey limped to the finish line, finishing third in the Metropolitan Division with a 42-33-7 record. The squad lost four of its final five regular season games before only managing to beat Carolina one time in five tries in the postseason.

It was always going to be an uphill battle without Hughes, and things got even more difficult early in the series against the Hurricanes; Luke Hughes, Brenden Dillon and Johnathan Kovacevic were all injured and missed the end of the series.

Both Hughes and star forward Jesper Bratt underwent surgeries earlier this week, and the silver lining is that basically every injured player should be ready for training camp.

Devils’ star players should be healthy for training camp

Fitzgerald speculated at the press conference that Jack Hughes’ injury woes should be behind him, and that’s crucial for this team as it looks to compete for a Stanley Cup in the near future.

“I’d like to think Jack’s shoulder injuries are behind him now,” he said. “Jack knows the work that is ahead of him, strength-wise and body makeup.”

As well, Dillon, Bratt and Luke Hughes should all be ready at the end of the offseason, and “there is no concern moving forward,” per Fitzgerald. The only player who is not expected to be ready for training camp is Kovacevic, who had successful surgery on Thursday.

When at full strength, the Devils project as fringe Stanley Cup contenders. But the roster has had a really hard time staying healthy over the last couple of seasons, and that is going to be absolutely crucial in the franchise’s quest to bring a championship back to Newark for the first time since 2003.