Devils Acknowledge Mediocrity Is Not Worth Celebrating
We unfortunately live in a world where spin, as opposed to honesty and accountability, is the preferred mode of communication. Whatever transpires, it must be put in a most favored light.
So kudos to Devils General Manager Tom Fitzgerald and Head Coach Sheldon Keefe, who, during Thursday’s season-end press conference, were a pair of straight shooters at the appropriate targets, unlike the team’s bottom six forwards. Devils fans needed to hear that this past season, despite the turn in the right direction, was still unacceptable in the organization’s eyes.
For while qualifying for the playoffs for only the third time since 2012 was commendable, it was a bare minimum ask. The 2024-25 Devils were built to last longer than a quick first-round exit in five games to Carolina. That they didn’t deserves a full-bore inquiry, not a veritable shoulder shrug that “them’s the breaks.”
Fitzgerald and Keefe owned the failure, dismissing an injury excuse that others in their positions might have proffered to save their own skins. The Devils had issues even before All-Star center Jack Hughes was lost for the season following a crash into the Vegas end boards on March 2. The team’s relatively comfortable cushion from banking points during an excellent first half of the season dissipated during the slog to the finish line, and it took a division-wide collapse by New Jersey’s rivals to get them in the tournament at 42-33-7.
As for the playoff dismissal, point to the power play outage rather than the overflow of defensemen in the medical room. Even with Luke Hughes joining his brother among those sidelined, New Jersey still had an “A-List” unit with the man advantage at their disposal. Yet they couldn’t convert once in 15 opportunities while yielding a shorthanded goal against. That was the proximate cause of defeat.
When assessing the campaign from above, Fitzgerald didn’t sugarcoat things. He called the season “average, and we’re not here to be average.” He knew why too, though it would have been nice to hear him take some of the blame for leaning too far into the grit-and-grind, “hard to play against” ethos over speed-and-skill in his bottom six. Instead, he pinned it on players who “underachieved.” He added, “I think players who have scored enough goals in this league to give (us) assurance that we have depth scoring, didn’t.”
Whatever. The team must now move forward, which should mean a course correction. “We won’t be coming back with the same group, I could tell you that, because it wasn’t good enough,” Fitzgerald said.
The ‘how” is, of course, TBD. The organization has already announced that two young European prospects will be coming over this summer to compete for NHL lineup spots. Arseni Gritsyuk, a 2019 fifth-round pick, and Lenni Hameenaho, a 2023 second rounder, each produced at just under a point per game clip in their respective leagues last season. Gritsyuk, being three years older and on a one-year contract, is the more likely to stick after training camp, though Hameenaho could squeeze in as well if he can quickly adapt to the North American rink size and style.
That’s just a start. As for potential big moves, Fitzgerald wouldn’t take the bait when asked about comments made by Vancouver President of Hockey Operations Jim Rutherford regarding a Hughes brothers unification. Canucks defenseman Quinn Hughes has two more seasons at a $7.85 million AAV on his contract, a number that would be hard to fit in New Jersey’s salary cap sheet in a hockey trade. Though Luke Hughes will be a restricted free agent this summer, there is nothing the Canucks can offer that could even titillate Fitzgeralds’s fancy towards sending both brothers west.
The Devils don’t have a first round pick in the 2025 Draft thanks to last summer’s trade for goalie Jacob Markstrom, but they could parlay future picks and prospects for a difference maker up front, provided they offload some salaries to create the requisite cap room. Fitzgerald gave no hints as to whether he’s ready to make such an all-in move.
I’d rather see the team fill its need for a solid, two-way center for its third line, with maybe a scoring wing on the side. Fitzgerald has a bit of a surplus of defensemen to trade when all are healthy, even if Brian Dumoulin walks in unrestricted free agency. Luke Hughes and Brenden Dillon are expected to be ready for training camp, but Johnathan Kovacevic isn’t.
The media seemed to give Fitzgerald a pass for his trade deadline decisions because Dumoulin turned out to be a savior in the wake of the injury epidemic. However, the forward additions of Cody Glass and Daniel Sprong barely registered a blip on the scoresheet, and that was the area most in need of an upgrade.
Still, Devils fans had to feel some relief on Thursday that the organization gets it: The 2024-25 season had some fun moments, but that isn’t good enough. My takeaway from the press conference was that Fitzgerald and Keefe didn’t try to snow us into making mediocrity a status worth celebrating.