Many Factors Went Into The New Jersey Devils’ Decision To Part Ways With Their GM
Dave Pagnotta of The Fourth Period joined TSN Radio in Montreal and was asked why the New Jersey Devils decided now was the right time to remove Tom Fitzgerald as General Manager and President.
Writing for NHLRumors.com
The writing was on the wall for Tom Fitzgerald to Lose His Job in New Jersey
Host: “Fourth Period interview with Dave Pagnotta. It’s Campbell vs Gallo Hockey in heaven at 11. Let’s look at the National Hockey League. The Devils are firing their General Manager. Tom Fitzgerald is out. They’re on a search, just like the Toronto Maple Leafs. Do the Devils want to fire the Leafs and want the same people to take the Leafs down because they want the Leafs down? What can we expect to happen in New Jersey?”
Dave Pagnotta: “Now, yeah, I mean, it’s the same situation, but Fitzgerald was also the President of Hockey Ops. So they might be in a position to bring in two people for sure, while Toronto is open to that possibility, but they might hire a GM. It doesn’t look like it’s going to go into the president and the GM GM will definitely come to New Jersey, but it looks like they’re going to come to New Jersey.
One in charge of hockey ops as President, the other day to day as GM. And there will be a crossover, at least on the GM front. Nashville, too, has been searching, but they’ve been going through that process well and coming down to where they’ve done face-to-face interviews and Zoom interviews and things like that, already with a number of candidates.
But there’s a little crossover there, and we’ll see if Vancouver follows suit. There is a lot of speculation that they may go down this road looking for a new GM. But from Jersey’s point of view, if you look at the paper, this team should be much better than what it has shown this season, even with injuries to other important pieces, Jack Hughes is the main one, and many people began to doubt whether it was a system put in place.
NHL Rumors: New Jersey Devils Plan to Bring Anton Silayev to North America
But to go back over the years, you can’t always use the injury excuse, although sometimes it’s more appropriate. They had it last year, well, well, let’s see how you can come back from that and get through it this year, and they couldn’t. So, in the end, he has one year left on his contract, it was clear and it’s like Brad Treliving, he has one year left on his contract; it is clear that New Jersey wanted to see. Hello, if you are going to book this ship, well, you have to confirm it if you want to get an extension.
Most of these guys don’t like to enter their senior year without some security. I think that’s included in every decision. Yesterday (Monday), when they dropped the hammer on this one, Fitzgerald was part of that conversation and he said, Yeah, you know what? This is a guide. Well, maybe it’s better for everyone if we split up.
NHL Rumors: New Jersey Devils, and Toronto Maple Leafs
I’d be surprised if the Predators and the Maple Leafs didn’t want to have an interview, or at least not want to have an interview with Tom Fitzgerald and, given his track record of following through on some of the moves he’s made, he’s made some solid moves for the New Jersey Devils. That list is really deep. Obviously, it didn’t work, but on paper, it looks pretty good. I think he will be considered for other gigs as well.”
NHLRumors.com Note: While injuries were an excuse in back-to-back seasons, that would not be the case this season. New Jersey found a way to overcome those injuries and make the playoffs last season. It must not have happened that others forgot that they were there. However, as has been proven across the league, if you think the person you want to hire won’t be available, you have to find him.
As has been the case all season, the Devils will look outside the organization to fill their President of Hockey Operations and General Manager roles.
We had to restart our X account. Please follow @MyNHLRumorsX
Have you subscribed to our YouTube channel? Rumors and hot topics from around the league. We also post some stuff on Instagram.
If you like our reporting, choose NHLrumors.com as a favorite source on Google.
