Mid-Season Musings | 10 TAKEAWAYS

On Wednesday morning, Devils general manager Tom Fitzgerald took a seat at a table inside Prudential Center, surrounded by a pack of reporters and a whole lot of questions as the team officially hit the halfway point of the season.
The nearly 40-minute chat covered just about everything. Fitzgerald talked team performance, his evaluation of the coaching staff, and even dipped into the future by discussing some of the organization’s top prospects.
But more than anything, Fitzgerald made it clear he knows exactly where he sits in the organization. He acknowledged he’s at the top of the food chain, and he both opened and closed the roundtable by owning where the team is right now, repeatedly stressing that it’s “on me.”
We’ll break it all down in this special edition of 10 Takeaways, presented by Ticketmaster.

1.

Fitzgerald gets it. He knows the expectations haven’t been met so far this season, and that the bar is set high because of what this core has shown it can do in recent years.

And that bar isn’t coming down. If anything, it’s going up. This group, and anyone who joins it, is going to be expected to raise the standard, because where things sit right now simply isn’t good enough.

Fitzgerald didn’t shy away from that reality either.

“We’re not meeting the standard and expectations we’ve set, this organization has set,” he said. “I feel for the fans. I really do. They’re used to Stanley Cup championship teams… Anything less is unacceptable.”

2.

Hired in May of 2024, Sheldon Keefe has been behind the Devils’ bench ever since, guiding the team to a 66-54-9 record over his nearly year-and-a-half as New Jersey’s head coach.

When seasons are falling short of expectations, the spotlight naturally drifts toward not only the GM, but the coach as well, as a results-driven league, after all. But when pressed on the topic, Fitzgerald didn’t waver in his support of Keefe.

“We are in lockstep,” Fitzgerald said when asked about his head coach, making it clear he stands firmly behind Keefe and the rest of the coaching staff.

Fitzgerald also stressed that he stays out of lineup decisions entirely. Who plays, who sits — that’s Keefe’s call. In Fitzgerald’s words, the head coach has “carte blanche” to make those decisions as he sees fit.

3.

Later in the day, Keefe also touched on his relationship with Fitzgerald and just how critical that alignment has been, especially during a stretch like this. From the start, Keefe made it clear there’s a shared understanding between the two, one built on trust, communication and a clear vision for where the team is headed.

“Fitzy hired me, brought me here,” Keefe said. “He showed the confidence to bring me here, my job every day is to make the group work. So, I want to know his vision, I want to know his thoughts are, and make sure that we are on the same page with that, and he gives me lots of freedom to do things the way that I want, for how I see them. But it’s all done with the vision of the team and how it’s built and in mind. I’ve enjoyed my time with him. The importance of that relationship, between manager and coach, it really shows its value at times when it’s hardest. That’s when you need to lean on it the most to be able to find your way out the other side of it.

That trust and alignment, Keefe explained, becomes even more valuable when things aren’t going smoothly. Rather than changing course on a whim, it allows the organization to stay steady, stick to its plan and work through adversity together, a mindset Keefe clearly believes will pay off as the Devils look to push through this stretch and get back on track.

4.

Fitzgerald also knows, and openly acknowledges, the importance of being in this together, as a full group, on the same page and working together to achieve the results they expect from one another. He made it clear that everyone has a hand in it, himself very much included, stressing that he and his staff are aligned from top to bottom.

“Listen, it’s on all of us,” Fitzgerald said. “It’s not on just the players’ play, the coaches’ strategy, and how they handle it. It’s on everybody. But the message is, the expectations and the standards haven’t changed… I look in the mirror. I want everybody to look in the mirror. I want everybody to keep themselves accountable on, ‘How do I get better? What can I do differently?”

The message was clear: accountability isn’t a buzzword, it’s the baseline.

5.

Fitzgerald also talked about one of the Devils top forward prospects in Lenni Hameenaho, who is currently in his first season in North America, playing with the Utica Comets. Hameenaho had a slow start in his first AHL season, as s he adapts to life overseas and the North American game.

But as of late, Lenni seems to have found a real stride in his game with some very encouraging signs. Fitzgerald mentioned that there had been talk at one point, recently, to even call Hameenaho up to the NHL, at the very least to give him an opportunity to practice with the NHL club.

Fitzgerald described the young forward as a dip-your-toe-in-the-pool type of player, explaining: “He's gotta get a little bit comfortable to feel better about his game, and we've actually talked about bringing him up, even just to practice with us, so he's comfortable here. So, one, it's a meritocracy. He's playing well, and we wanna give him an opportunity, but we wanna make sure he feels very comfortable in a situation that we can get the best out of him at that time.”

Fitzgerald called the team ‘very lucky’ and ‘feel very fortunate’ to have Lenni in the organization.

6.

One of the true bright spots this season has been the arrival of Arseny Gritsyuk. He’s wasted no time settling into NHL life, the pace, the style, the room, and has quickly become a fixture both on the ice and in the locker room. He’s a joker, full of personality, and genuinely fun to be around. Quirky, upbeat, and with a real joie de vivre, Gritsyuk has fit right in.

On the ice, the production has followed. Through 43 games in his rookie season, the 24-year-old has put up eight goals and 10 assists, and he already owns one of the more dangerous releases on the team.

Gritsyuk arrived on a one-year entry-level deal for the 2025–26 season, which means contract talks are coming sooner rather than later. He’ll be a restricted free agent at season’s end, and Fitzgerald made it clear that extension conversations are on the radar.

“We do plan on that,” Fitzgerald said. “He was an unknown. Like, you didn’t know what you were gonna have. When you talk about depth scoring, you didn’t know what you’re gonna have, and then when a player like that comes in and we feel he can pop, and he can tell you he can still be better, you feel very lucky to do this.”

Halfway through the season, it’s safe to say the Devils like what they’ve found, and they’re hoping for more of it in the future.

7.

Take a quick glance at the standings, and it’s hard not to do a double-take... this might be as tight as the NHL has ever been at this point in the season. No one, especially in the East, is truly out of it, and that includes the Devils, who currently sit four points back of a Wild Card spot and/or third in the Metropolitan Division. The Washington Capitals currently hold the third spot in the division with 54 points, to New Jersey’s 50.

That’s why there’s still plenty of runway… Enough room to make a real push and turn the adversity of the past few weeks into an opportunity to grow.

A very condensed schedule makes for games nearly every other day, not as much recovery time, and certainly not the same amount of practice time a team is used to. Every team hits bumps along the way; it’s unavoidable, but what ultimately matters is how you respond when things get uncomfortable. It has been a grueling season, league-wide.

That's where New Jersey is right now. But they've shown they can be much more than they've been of late.

And with that, Fitzgerald asserts that the playoffs are still the primary goal for this group.

“I know that we’re one streak away from being where we were at the start, where we really liked what we had and thought we were a good team,” Fitzgerald said. “In all my years here, I’ve never seen a schedule like I saw this year. When you saw what we were coming out of the gate versus, and thought, ‘Wow!’ And then, first 15 games, if you thought your record was gonna be that because of the teams, then I would’ve been lying. But that proved that when we put our minds to it, and we play the right way, and we’re connected, and we’re committed, we can be a good team.”

The belief is still there; now it’s about turning it back into results.

When asked directly if the Stanley Cup Playoffs were still the goal, Fitzgerald replied with an emphatic ‘Hell, yeah!’ (Well, he didn't quite use the word 'hell', it was in fact a bit more of a forceful expletive!)

8.

That closeness in the standings also changes the familiarity of the trade market at this time of year.

Normally by now you’ve got clear buyers and sellers, but this season almost everyone still feels like they’re in it — the same belief Fitzgerald has in his group is shared across the league.

The Trade Deadline isn’t until March 6, but Fitzgerald noted that the three-week Olympic break has already sparked some different conversations well ahead of time.

We’ll see where it all leads.

9.

When your core includes players like Jack Hughes, Jesper Bratt, and Nico Hischier, it’s easy to fall into the mindset that talent and speed alone should carry you every night. And on some nights, it does. But the reality of an 82-game season is that not every game is built for a rush-heavy, free-flowing style where skill takes over and the scoreboard tilts in your favor.

There’s a foundation for how you want to play, sure, but over the course of a season, you’re going to be forced into different types of games. Tight games. Grind-it-out games. And how a team handles those shifts in style is where real growth shows up.

“Well, what made us successful in 2022–23 was how good we were off the rush, right?” Fitzgerald said. “We were a very good rush team and very quick-strike type of team, and that’s still how we wanna play. But the reality is, other teams don’t want to get into these track meets, we call them. So they know when they play us, if they get into a track meet, it’s probably not gonna look good.”

Because of that, opponents adjust, and it forces the Devils to do the same.

“So where they’re committed to playing on top of the puck and on top of our guys to limit those,” Fitzgerald continued, “now it’s how we adjust. Are we comfortable in those uncomfortable situations? Grinding it out down low, chipping pucks in at certain times? That’s development and growth.”

Fitzgerald admitted he loves watching this group when the rush game is alive, and who wouldn’t? But the bigger question remains.

“I love watching our team play off the rush,” he said, “but when it’s not there, how do we win? We’ve gotta find a different way.”

That search for answers, and the willingness to embrace the uncomfortable, might be the next step this group has to take.

10.

And Fitzgerald believes he already has the core in place to make that happen.

“I believe in the core,” he said. “We believe, we as an organization, believe in this core. We’ve seen them at the top of their game, and we all like it… you guys have seen them on top of their game, and you all like it, and go, ‘Wow, that’s a good core.’ I believe in this core.”

That belief matters, especially in a season where patience could be just as important as any move. Fitzgerald knows his group has shown what it can be when it’s rolling and without a doubt working to add to it, enhance it, and become that championship team that Fitzgerald knows this fan base deserves.