Fitzgerald 'Owed' Trade to his Team | ANALYSIS

Tom Fitzgerald made one transaction as the NHL reached its annual 3 p.m. trade deadline.
And it's a trade, in Fitzgerald's words, that he "owed" to his players.
Fitzgerald acquired netminder Andrew Hammond - a 34-year pro hockey veteran - to help improve the goaltending position in the aspiration of giving the team a chance to continue to compete and build on what's already been done this season.
"It's important to the players to finish strong. They want to finish strong," Fitzgerald said. "They believe they can go toe-to-toe with the best teams in the league. They've proven that. They want to continue to do that. They just (want to) feel that we have a chance because our goalie gives us a chance."

The Devils have made incredible strides during the 2021-22 season both on an individual level and on a team level.
Individually, Jesper Bratt already has set career highs in goals (21), assists (39) and points (60). The same can be said for Jack Hughes with 19, 28 and 47. Hughes has taken his game to another stratosphere, scoring at a 1.12 point per game clip. Captain Nico Hischier is also on track to have a career year, as well as continuing to develop into one of the league's best face-off and defensive centers. Rookie 20-year-old Dawson Mercer has opened eyes with his play. On the backend, Jonas Siegenthaler has transitioned into one of the team's rocks. And those are just to name a few.
As a team, the Devils have averaged exactly 3.00 goals per game this season - a vast improvement over their 2.59 (ranking 26th overall) last season. Also, one year ago, the Devils' penalty kill ranked dead last (31st overall) in the league with a 71-percent success rate. This season, the unit is the 11th best with a conversion rate of 81.1 percent. That's an over 10-percent increase.
Perhaps the biggest progression of the team as a whole is the mindset and attitude. The Devils trailed the Colorado Avalanche 3-0 in the second period of a game played on March 8. The Avalanche boasted the NHL's best record entering the game, nearly doubling New Jersey's mark at the point (87-45), and were 23-0-0 when leading after a period.
Yet, despite those circumstances - as well as playing the game without Hischier - the Devils never lost faith in their ability to win the game, eventually scoring five unanswered goals for a 5-3 victory.
But it was the team's comments about trailing 3-0 in the game that really stood out.
Bastian: "We felt really good. I don't know if there was much doubt that we would (win) through the whole game. In between periods we felt great."
Head coach Lindy Ruff: "There was just a belief that we were going to come back."
Damon Severson: "We hope so moving forward that this is one of those (signature) wins. You hate to go down by two or three in the second. It's one of those things that you don't forget wins like this because Colorado is such a solid team."
But perhaps it was Tomas Tatar who said it best: "We showed a lot of character. We believed that we could turn it around. … We are trying to create a winning mentality and these kind of games give it to you."
The Devils are trying to build that "winning mentality" and a winning culture. That win against Colorado may have only been two points in the standings, but it was a pivotal (turning) point in the club's rebuild. Some franchise's end up mired in losing, and a losing culture can take fold and envelop the organization (see: Cleveland Browns of 1999-2019). When that losing mentality takes hold, it's difficult to break that psyche.
But New Jersey has broken through that barrier and built the belief in themselves and in their team.
"That locker room believes in themselves. They believe that they're good," Fitzgerald said. "They believe they can go toe-to-toe with any team in the league. That's development. The last 20 games here we want to end the season feeling really good about ourselves."

It is with those development strides in mind, that Monday's trade becomes so meaningful.
It's no secret that the Devils entered the season thinking they had their long sought-after 1a-1b combination in goal with Mackenzie Blackwood and Jonathan Bernier. They also opened the season with Scott Wedgewood in tow. But a pair of injuries - Blackwood (heel), Bernier (hip) - and a waiver claim on Wedgewood have cut deep into the team's goaltending depth.
New Jersey had turned to at various times two 21-year-old rookies in Nico Daws and Akira Schmid and 27-year-old Jon Gillies, who had played 13 career NHL games before being acquired by the Devils.
"Our intent was to have our two everyday NHL goaltenders play for us to see where we were going to be at this year. That didn't happen," Fitzgerald said. "I'm not making any excuses. It is what it is. But that doesn't take away from the excitement that I get in watching our team and the way we play."
Belief is part of building a winning culture. But the most important part - the end result - is the winning. The Devils want to keep pushing their progression forward, and that means bolstering the goaltending position for the final stretch of the season.
That doesn't mean Hammond will come to and go 20-1-2 like he did during his heroic 'Hamburglar' days in Ottawa. But he does add an experienced option that can help mentor as well as motivate those around him by creating some healthy competition between three netminders fighting for one net.
"All we want is to give us a chance, give us a chance to play our game, feel good about ourselves and feel like we're in every game," Fitzgerald said. "That's all you want from goaltending. Just give us a chance to be in a game.
"It may be Nico Daws one night, it may be Jon Gillies another night. Now it could be Andrew Hammond on a lot of nights if he gives us a chance to win."
The Devils players have taken steps forward all season long. They've proven they can hang with any team, whether it's beating the Avalanche, the St. Louis Blues (twice), the Pittsburgh Penguins (twice) or a dramatic comeback win at Tampa Bay. New Jersey can compete with any team in the league. And the Devils, most importantly, believe they can win every game they play. And it's important to reinforce that belief with results.
And what this team cares most about, particularly in the final 20 games this year, is that winning result. Tom Fitzgerald made a deal that could help them.
He owed it to his players to do that. And now, they owe it to him to deliver and keep the franchise in forward motion.