The Devils didn’t have the 2023–24 campaign they wanted to due largely to injuries and inadequate goaltending and ultimately missed the postseason. Head coach Lindy Ruff would be terminated before all was said and done, with Travis Green replacing him on an interim basis before departing for the Senators in the offseason. General manager Tom Fitzgerald didn’t write this outcome off as a pure aberration and opted to adjust the roster fairly aggressively. He also went after a big name on the coaching market to replace Ruff on a permanent basis. What do I think the efficacy of those moves will be? Let’s look through them.

The Leafs parted ways with Sheldon Keefe this summer after yet another defeat to the Boston Bruins and the Devils were pretty quick to scoop him up. Keefe joins having compiled a 212-97-40 regular season record in Toronto, but won just one playoff series between 2020 and 2024. He has won a Calder Cup with the Toronto Marlies (2018) in the AHL, having posted a 200-89-22 record, and additionally has served successful stints in the OHL (registering a record of 134-55-5 with the Soo Greyhounds) and CCHL (winning five straight championships with the Pembroke Lumber Kings as their head coach and GM with a record of 303-96-4-10 W-L-T-OTL). The general consensus around this hire is they are bringing aboard someone that is smart when it comes to modern trends in the game, coaches offensive-minded hockey, and is a fresh voice, but some opine that he has served as a detriment to players’ development at times and makes questionable line construction decisions. I happen to agree with the latter point (as well as usage/deployments at some junctures) and I think it’s at least worth examining that he had terrific forward group that he won a playoff series with exactly one time only to be eliminated in round two. I do believe the scenery change to a lower demand market and a new situation can benefit Keefe and he has a lot to provide, but he has a lot to prove, as well. It’s definitely somewhat of a coin flip hire.

Additionally, the Devils made some personnel hires, namely bringing on 11-year NHL vet/ex-CBJ goalie coach Manny Legace as head amateur goaltending scout/development coach, working with EVP Martin Brodeur. Additionally, an old, familiar face to the org in Andy Greene will be working for the org as an advisor specializing in hockey operations. A few new scouts were added to the org, as well. Most noteworthy, however, is the hiring of Chuck Fletcher as senior advisor to the president, hockey operations and general manager. Fletcher worked with Fitzgerald in Pittsburgh for three years and has served as Minnesota Wild and Philadelphia Flyers GM.

I have plenty to say on this one. Fletcher has been condemned for not going for the big trade often enough in pursuit of his “aggressive retool”, a fact that John Fischer notes in his article on this series of hires. That’s true, particularly in the context of his failing to move James van Riemsdyk prior to the expiration of his deal, an inaction which was a significant contributing factor to his termination in Philadelphia. Beyond just that, however, his attempts at aggression were foolish. Think about what was surrendered for the likes of Rasmus Ristolainen (who has improved since, particularly defensively, but that is not sufficient justification for his price tag of Robert Hägg, a first, and a second) and Tony DeAngelo (who produced offensively for the team but had a -15 GAR defensively). He also sent out Shayne Gostisbehere AND a pick for Future Considerations (yup, that guy again – what a bum). The one thing Fletcher has going for him is that he’s drafted fairly well over the course of his career, but that is entirely due to having had heavy assistance from longtime collaborator Brent Flahr in both Minnesota and Philadelphia, who Fletcher will not be able to utilize the services and consultation of as Flahr remained in Philadelphia as AGM and VP of hockey ops after Fletcher’s termination. There just isn’t much this hire can contribute in terms of meaningful insight.

On the ice, Fitzgerald pursued G Jacob Markstrom as the solution for the issues in net and got him, landing the netminder from Calgary at a 31.3% salary retention in exchange for a D Kevin Bahl and a 2025 first rounder with a top 10 protection. As Christian covered, Markstrom has been posting regressing results, and Sean Gentille of The Athletic notes that Markstrom is generally volatile and not a “true” franchise goaltender; however, as Gentille also declares, someone who posts among a league best in GSAE is definitely an upgrade from their previous situation. Bahl has a fair amount of potential, as Christian notes, perhaps as another version of the Nikita Zadorov archetype, but that and what will likely be a lower first rounder are worth surrendering to improve an important situation, especially at a decreased cost.

The trade of D John Marino netted them a round two pick at 49th overall from Utah Hockey Club. It seemed to be clearing the runway for D Brett Pesce to sign after he hit the free agent market from Carolina, which was pretty well expected by everyone. As Dom Luszczyszyn notes, this addition makes sense to add some unflashy grit to their defensive core that they needed, but the term and money at six years, $5.5M AAV aren’t great for a tough defenseman who is about to turn 30 and already has a bad injury history. Lest we forget that Pesce was injured during these last playoffs and listed as hurt when he signed his deal. It’s a good logical step from a team-building perspective, wherein they really needed to get harder to play against. The risks, though, are plentiful.

I was basically fundamentally opposed to the trade I’m about to cover from the moment it happened. Well, I wasn’t, because it’s well known that I dislike the New Jersey Devils more than any other franchise in professional sports in the entire world, but from an “I believe in good management” perspective, I was not a fan. LW Paul Cotter and a third round pick in 2025 were dealt to NJ from VGK in exchange for RW Alexander Holtz and G Akira Schmid. Okay, surrendering Schmid is whatever. He might not have ever been meant to right his ship in New Jersey, even though he has plenty of time to do so. The only things he has going for him right now is he’s on a better contract and younger than Cotter. However, the surrendering of Holtz in exchange a fourth liner, even if it is one that makes the team tougher in the bottom part of the roster, is egregious. Yes, his 16 goals and 12 assists in his first full NHL season didn’t account for quite the output they hoped for from a former 7th overall pick that they drafted to be a major goal scoring threat. However, I’m just not surrendering him for a fourth liner that costs more when he still has a few seasons of runway. I get that you have to give to get, but that’s not how I’m altering this roster. Lastly, LW Tomas Tatar has returned via free agency, signing a one-year deal worth $1.8M. The Devils will hope that he is his best version of himself to help out the bottom part of the forward roster.

With the tenth overall pick in 2024’s NHL Entry Draft, the Devils took D Anton Silayev (KHL – Torpedo Nizhny Novgorod). I get what they’re trying to add in a very large defenseman with a big reach and great shutdown capabilities, but I’ve been weary about the emphasis on the great amount of size in the ’24 class that scouts placed. While he slid by the standards of how the conversation usually goes, I just don’t think I’d add this sort of player at this stage of the draft. You can get high end players of that caliber just as easily in round two. We’ll see what Silayev becomes over the long course of his dev. That said, though, they basically beat you over the head with this approach throughout the proceedings, so maybe they actually had the right idea for the later rounds. Still, I think going that way with the tenth overall selection leaves a lot to be desired. It’s clear what they want the direction to be with their roster building, but it might not have been necessary to be so uncompromising about it.

Overall, the Devils did accomplish their short-term goals and could very well be more competitive next year. However, there is some volatility in how things can go even in the immediate future and the long-term picture might be very rough. Their head coaching hire was more good than bad (by a pretty good margin), but the headlining hire for the front office was simply awful. They also drafted in a very one dimensional way, which may be somewhat merited by this being a weaker class and the needs of the org long term, but they might’ve gone overboard. The Devils ultimately get a C for this offseason. Tom Fitzgerald and co. did enough to warrant some praise and look more complete and able to compete harder in the Metropolitan Division/Eastern Conference than they did last year, but the overarching plan doesn’t impress enough to warrant better than a middle of the road passing grade.