The New Jersey Devils announced that they have signed General Manager Tom Fitzgerald to a multi-year extension. In addition, the Devils have promoted Fitzgerald from Executive Vice President to President of Hockey Operations/General Manager.
The TomFather is here to stay.
We’ve signed Fitzy to a multi-year extension and named him President, Hockey Operations/General Manager.
?: https://t.co/Y3UtLGquBJ pic.twitter.com/vg2LSmqibM
— New Jersey Devils (@NJDevils) January 23, 2024
Tom Fitzgerald Gets Multi-Year Extension and Promotion
Tom Fitzgerald has put in a lot of work to take the New Jersey Devils from a bottom dweller to a potential Stanley Cup contender in a few years. On January 12, 2020, the Devils named Fitzgerald interim GM after serving as their assistant GM for a few years. Shortly after on July 9, 2020, the Devils named him as permanent GM and Executive Vice President.
Fitzgerald has had his fingerprints all over this current New Jersey Devils team. A number of notable transactions highlight his work. This includes naming Nico Hischier as captain in 2021 as well as signing deals for Jack Hughes, Jesper Bratt, Erik Haula, Timo Meier, and Michael McLeod. Acquiring players like Tyler Toffoli, Meier and Haula via trade and bringing in Dougie Hamilton and Ondrej Palat as free agents were also notable moves that have shaped the current Devils team. Fitzgerald also played an important part in drafting and developing budding players in Alexander Holtz, Dawson Mercer, Simon Nemec and Luke Hughes.
What This Means
It’s not much of a surprise that New Jersey wanted to keep Fitzgerald around for a little longer. While New Jersey is already making noise, they seem to be just on the verge of what this team could be with further experience and development. As still a young team in the NHL, the team and Fitzgerald both have to be excited about the future of the organization.
Given the progress and success Fitzgerald already has achieved, it also makes sense that the organization gave him the promotion. There’s always going to be ups and downs when navigating team management and progress and nothing is guaranteed. But for New Jersey, Fitzgerald has shown he has the ability to steer the team in the right direction and will have some more time to continue.
Main Photo Credit: Tom Horak-USA TODAY Sports
