Tom Fitzgerald Vows To Reshape the Roster This Offseason

It will be another busy off-season for the Devils President and General Manager as he looks to upgrade areas of strength and weakness. Last off-season, he addressed and prioritized keeping the puck out of the net. He added Jacob Markstrom, Brenden Dillon, Johnathan Kovacevic, Brett Pesce, and Stefan Noesen for more size and toughness.

However, he forgot to address goal scoring, which was an issue all season. Fitzgerald did not worry about the offense because it was there, but he understands the importance of scoring goals and how hard it is in the league.

“I think I said it too, scoring goals is a hard thing to do in this league,” Fitzgerald. “It’s not easy, but we have to figure out different ways to score because of personnel. Grinding goals out, getting to the net front, getting to the hard ice, and getting in front of the goalie, screens, tips, things like that, and we need certain guys to pick the pace up a bit as well.”

Life would have been easier for the Devils in the goal scoring in front had they addressed that area last offseason. Remember, the Devils traded Tyler Toffoli to the Winnipeg Jets at the 2024 NHL Trade Deadline, despite Fitzgerald saying he did not want to move him for nothing. New Jersey did as much as the two sides could not agree on a contract extension.

Not replacing Toffoli’s production of 25-30 goals a season hurt the Devils offensively, especially when Jack Hughes was lost for the year for another shoulder surgery. This weakness plagued the Devils all season and carried over into the playoffs. They did not have the offense to match the Carolina Hurricanes.

Tom Fitzgerald had chances at the 2025 NHL Trade Deadline to upgrade the roster; however, the deals were more expensive than he would have liked. He was not going to overpay for a rental. He was always looking for a talented player, but to say the Devils finished second in deals was incorrect. According to sources close to Full Press Hockey, that was a cover for the failure to upgrade the team.

So, he pivoted at the trade deadline with the injuries to Dougie Hamilton, Jonas Siegenthaler, and Jack Hughes. But if you listen to what Fitzgerald said and read between the lines, the plan was always to add depth at the deadline.

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However, the Devils moves aligned with how they used their analytics department. At some point, that philosophy has to change. But more on that at another time. The additions of Brian Dumoulin, Daniel Sprong, Cody Glass, and Dennis Cholowski did not help the Devils reach their goal, even though they put up a valiant effort despite the losses of Brenden Dillon, Luke Hughes, and Jonathan Kovacevic to injuries in the first round.

However, Tom Fitzgerald will have another busy off-season ahead, as he has had over the last few off-seasons. He is feeling the pressure to win. While he is not on the hot seat, the heat is getting close to being turned up heading into the season if the Devils don’t meet expectations.

That pressure involves making tough decisions regarding their current rostered players and free agents as they seek sustainability and consistency.

“We’ve got a lot of decisions to make on certain players, whether we bring guys back, trade players, we won’t be coming back with the same group. I can tell you that,” Fitzgerald said.

This summer, the list of unrestricted free agents for the Devils includes Jake Allen, Nathan Bastian, Justin Dowling, Curtis Lazar, Tomas Tatar, Dumoulin, Sprong, and Cholowski. In addition, the Devils have three restricted free agents, including Luke Hughes, Nolan Foote, and Glass.

According to PuckPedia.com, New Jersey currently has $5,095,834 in cap space. That number will rise slightly to about $13 million as the salary cap increases to $95.5 million. However, Luke Hughes needs a new extension. The most likely scenario is that he signs an eight-year deal in the $7 million to $8 million range. That means the Devils have $5 million to $6 million to fill out the rest of the roster.

Most of the free agents listed above will not be coming back. Even though Fitzgerald wants to bring back Jake Allen, he will speak to Allen’s agent about the future of the backup goalie in New Jersey. Nico Daws believes he will be with the Devils next season to back up Markstrom, so Allen could be gone.

However, the Devils still need to fill out their forward group and sign some depth defensemen. With Kovacevic not being ready for training camp, the Devils could get more relief if he starts the season on LTIR. But that is not enough. Thus, tough decisions will need to be made on players like Dawson Mercer, Erik Haula, and Ondrej Palat.

Teams have been calling about Mercer over the last two seasons, but Tom Fitzgerald has hesitated to move him. New Jersey tried to trade for Ryan O’Reilly from Nashville, but Predators GM was looking for Mercer as part of the return. At some point, management has to decide if he is worth $4 million a season and part of the core moving forward.

Even though Tom Fitzgerald did not want to comment on Quinn Hughes‘s situation in Vancouver, he is probably thinking about what it would take to get him. Does that package involve Mercer, Simon Nemec, or Seamus Casey? What about Dougie Hamilton?

Once again, the New Jersey Devils have many areas of need heading into this offseason. While there is a good foundation, there is a belief that the roster is not good enough to win. It is only average, and average is not going to win in this league. Thus, tough decisions must be made as they look for long-term sustainability.

The Devils must now take that next step in their process under Tom Fitzgerald, as he may not have many more chances to fix the problems plaguing this roster. He has to get it right this offseason.