Devils Need To Move on From Fitzgerald & Keefe
The New Jersey Devils need to clean house after nearly three seasons of underwhelming to poor results.
Follow us on Twitter: @AlexC_NJD, @NJD_OnTheRush
Follow me on Bluesky
OK. You can officially put a nail in the coffin of the New Jersey Devils’ season. After a pathetic 3-0 loss to the Columbus Blue Jackets and a 5-4 overtime win by the New York Islanders over the Pittsburgh Penguins, the Devils are nine points out of a playoff spot.
It’s over.
Now that it’s over, it’s time for sweeping change. Ownership needs to step up and pull the plug on the Tom Fitzgerald and Sheldon Keefe era of hockey because it’s clearly not working. The longer this drags out, the worse it will get.
Devils Need to Evaluate How Much Coaching Is Impacting Poor Results
I can’t say I’m surprised by last night’s result against the Blue Jackets. I wrote this less than 12 hours before the game started:
“That’s why I can’t get behind the Devils surprising everyone and coming through with two wins against the Blue Jackets and Islanders. There’s just too much evidence to suggest they will fall flat because they’ve done that too many times in big spots this season. They’re more than welcome to change the narrative, but I have to see it to believe it first.”
Of course, the Devils did exactly that. They fell flat, but saying they fell flat doesn’t do it justice. That was an embarrassing display with their season on the line.
The Devils generated just 1.23 expected goals at five-on-five for the game. Even worse, they totaled just four high-danger chances. I don’t care if Jack Hughes isn’t playing. That’s beyond unacceptable. There’s more than enough talent on this team to be better than that.
The third period was particularly alarming. Entering it tied at 0-0, the Devils were outscored 3-0, out-chanced 8-6, out xG’d 0.81 to 0.57, and outshot 14-7 at all strengths. That’s the effort you put up against a division rival with your slim playoff hopes on the line?
Sheldon Keefe said the team wilted in the third period and that they have to be mentally tougher. He’s not wrong, but how many third periods have been a problem for the Devils this season?
Whether they enter it tied or trailing by a goal or two, there have been plenty of games where they just don’t show up in the third period. In other instances, they sit back too much when they have a lead. They’ve had better results defending leads in the third, but the third period has been a struggle in different ways.
Has Keefe been dealt an unfair shake due to poor roster construction from Fitzgerald? That’s certainly fair to say, but that does not absolve Keefe of blame. There are a couple of issues to address.
One) Keefe is clearly not getting the best out of the Devils’ top players. I’ve mentioned it here before and said as much on Twitter last night, but Timo Meier, Jesper Bratt, Nico Hischier, and even Hughes look like they’ve forgotten how to score goals/play offense.
They need to make plays, but when you’re stuck in a system that’s not exactly offensive-minded and focuses too much on perimeter play, that’s going to happen. It will neutralize offense, and I don’t think it’s a coincidence the Devils are 25-30 goals below expected for another season. There’s more than just a personnel issue here.
That’s the biggest reason to move on from Keefe for the final 25-26 games of the season. The Devils are not making the playoffs, but you need to see how many of the issues are coaching/playing style, etc.
There should not be a permanent hire made until the offseason. Just let Jeremy Colliton or Brad Shaw run the show until the season is over, but give them the freedom to free up the Devils’ offensive system. You need to evaluate what the issues are, and that’s one way to do it.
The other reasons are ones we’ve gone over before. Keefe’s system isn’t a fit for this roster, etc. But something has to give at some point.
Look at the Blue Jackets since Rick Bowness took over. They’re 9-1-0. It’s too late for a coaching change to get the team back in the playoff race, but they can still play better and end the season on a high note, and that would answer some questions.
Fitzgerald Has Run Out of Chances
Ultimately, this is the mess Fitzgerald created. You wanted to get tougher, grittier and more defensive? Congratulations. Now, the team can’t score goals and is a brutal watch almost every night.
One of the biggest flaws of this Devils’ roster is the lack of puck-moving ability on defense. Aside from Dougie Hamilton and, on occasion, Šimon Nemec and Luke Hughes, no defenseman has any idea what to do with the puck on their stick.
That’s one of the reasons why the Devils have struggled to generate five-on-five offense, and that’s on the GM for poor roster construction.
It’s also why whiffing on Quinn Hughes looks like one of the biggest gaffes in franchise history. Hughes would have solved a lot of problems for this team, and if you don’t believe me, look at the impact he’s had for the Minnesota Wild.
The Wild have been absolutely dominant in Hughes’ five-on-five minutes, and he’s producing close to a 100-point pace since the Wild acquired him from the Vancouver Canucks.
There’s a litany of other reasons to move on from Fitzgerald, too. One) He’s completely wasted the prime years of this core. Hischier has just one year left on his contract, and the Devils haven’t gotten anything other than one playoff series win out of it.
Two) Fitzgerald is too slow to act to improve the team. Look at what Kyle Dubas has done as the Penguins’ GM. He’s made shrewd moves, like signing Anthony Mantha and Justin Brazeau in free agency. Both players are likely to finish with 20+ goals.
He recently acquired Yegor Chinakhov, who’s producing at a 35-goal pace since becoming a Penguin. He’s proactive, savvy, and finds ways to improve his team.
What has Fitzgerald done since the last trade deadline? Honestly, nothing. Evgenii Dadonov was a good signing at the time, but he has no points in 16 games this season and was a healthy scratch against the Blue Jackets.
Connor Brown has been a nice addition, but he’s not a needle mover. After stating he wouldn’t be bringing back the same team for 2025-26, Fitzgerald essentially brought back the same team, and the results have been similar to a season ago.
I’ll give him credit. He did well to get out of the Ondřej Palát contract, but it came months too late. Had they cleared the contract in the summer, maybe Hughes would be a Devil.
Now, with the trade deadline almost a month away, it might be better for the Devils to have a quiet deadline with an interim GM, then let the next GM make the hard decisions on who should stay and who should go.
It’s also clear that the organization needs a philosophical change. Somewhere along the way, the front office decided they’d rather try to win games 2-1 instead of scoring 3, 4, or 5 goals a game en route to a victory. That’s not conducive to winning hockey in 2026, and we’ve seen the results.
The Devils need to make sweeping changes. That much is clear. The roster needs work, but Fitzgerald and Keefe should not get to oversee those changes. It’s time for a fresh start with a new set of ideas.
If you haven’t already, consider subscribing to Devils on the Rush to help support independent writing and the site’s continued growth. There are free and paid options available in the links below:
Those who opt for the paid option help boost my coverage of yours and New Jersey’s favorite team.
Advanced stats from Natural Stat Trick
I subscribe to a few of these and every single person is saying the same thing. So if we all think it, why can't ownership see it? It boggles my mind how someone can invest so much money into something and simply ignore it.
Ugh. So painful. But had to be said.