Could the Devils make a management shakeup?
There is no question that the New Jersey Devils are at or near the very top of any list of the most disappointing teams in the NHL this season.
Knocked out in the first round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs last year with a slew of injuries, this season was supposed to be return to contention for the Devils. Instead, they’re well out of the picture for making the playoffs, even if they’re not yet mathematically eliminated.
General manager Tom Fitzgerald was outbid by Minnesota Wild GM Bill Guerin to land star defenseman Quinn Hughes, even though the presence of brothers Jack and Luke in Newark made New Jersey the obvious landing spot for Quinn.
The contract extension he gave Jacob Markstrom before the season is not aging well at the moment either, as the veteran goalie has struggled to the tune of a .883 save percentage.
On Thursday’s episode of Daily Faceoff LIVE, host Tyler Yaremchuk and co-host and former NHL goaltender Carter Hutton were joined by NHL insider David Pagnotta to discuss whether or not the Devils’ slide could result in a new general manager at the helm next season.
Carter Hutton: I know it’s kind of tricky to call right now, Dave, because this playoff race is so tight, but is there another team or organization that you feel we could see another facelift happen? Whether it’s general manager head coach, or president, if you don’t end up in a playoff spot, there’s a lot of teams that are going to be questioning the way their teams are built.
David Pagnotta: Yeah, I mean, you know everybody’s pointing to New Jersey at the moment. You know, looking at what’s gonna happen with Tom Fitzgerald. I think there’s some question marks surrounding Sheldon Keefe as well, their head coach there, and I mentioned this earlier this week, like the argument for that is that on paper this team should be a hell of a lot better than they are. Maybe it’s just the guy that’s putting this together, similar to Toronto, that’s the reason this isn’t working. The system doesn’t complement these guys and their styles. That could be part of the equation. I think all of that’s gonna be reviewed, and we may see some type of change at both ends with with New Jersey.
You can watch the full segment and the rest of the episode here…