New Jersey Devils

Fitzgerald’s Confidence in Devils Offense Backfires; Back’s Against the Wall

Published

4 weeks ago

April 28, 2025

NEWARK–With their backs against the wall and on the brink of elimination from the 2025 Stanley Cup Playoffs, it’s safe to say general manager Tom Fitzgerald’s confidence in the New Jersey Devils’ offense has backfired.

You have to go back to the summer when Fitzgerald addressed the media following his summer acquisitions.

Undoubtedly, the makeover the Devils went through brought some excitement. They reeled in their No.1 goaltender in Jacob Markstrom which has proven to be one of Fitzgerald’s best moves. Additions such as Brett Pesce and Johnathan Kovacevic have paid off. The aim was to get bigger, and tougher, and additions like Brenden Dillon and Paul Cotter certainly checked those boxes.

However, the Devils lost a lot in a guy like Tyler Toffoli when they traded him at the 2024 NHL Trade Deadline. His 35-goal scoring pace he brought to New Jersey last season was never replaced. Instead, Fitzgerald explained the difference would come internally.

“I went through my punch list with you,” Fitzgerald said to New Jersey Hockey Now. “What was the one thing I didn’t talk about? I wasn’t worried about offense with this group. We’ve got enough offense here. With that being said, a guy like Dawson Mercer is gonna get an opportunity to continue to grow and explode, hopefully. And then it’s by committee. You’re hoping that the [Tomas] Tatar’s and Cotter’s and the [Stefan] Noesen’s are all chipping in and that 15-goal [range] to make up the goal difference. But at the end of the day, Jack [Hughes], Nico [Hischier], Timo [Meier], [Jesper] Bratt, more from [Ondrej] Palat offensively. We feel we’ll continue to get that.”

Well, Dawson Mercer scored 19 goals and 36 points in 82 games. In the playoffs, he’s contributed one goal. He hasn’t filled that void.

Otherwise, Fitzgerald was partially correct. Although Jack Hughes had season-ending surgery, he was scoring at a point-per-game pace before he was shelved. As did Jesper Bratt. Nico Hischier netted 35 goals this year, and Timo Meier eventually came on strong, and is making his presence felt in the postseason.

Palat had his best season with the Devils in terms of scoring goals (15), yet, his contributions being paid as a top-six forward still are not enough.

Other than Palat, however, the majority of the Devils’ top-six was going well this season.

That’s proven to be true in the playoffs.

Hughes isn’t in the fold due to injury, but the Devils’ top scorers are all of Hischier (three goals), Meier (1g, 2a), and Bratt (1g, 2a) in four games.

The issue, as it has been all season and now in the playoffs, is depth on offense and more recently, the power play.

Perhaps one of the disguised curses for New Jersey this season was Stefan Noesen’s offensive emergence. The Devils inked Noesen to be a middle-six forward who can both chip in offensively and be hard to play against on the forecheck.

Yet, Noesen came into the 2024-25 regular season hot as can be, matching and eclipsing his previous career high in goals by December 23rd when he netted his 16th goal of the season.

However, the well dried up quick, and Noesen only netted six goals in his final 41 games of the regular season. Now, through four postseason contests, the 32-year-old forward is goalless.

The mirage that Noesen evolved late in his career into a top-six contributor, partially led to the Devils’ regression on offense.

In a similar, yet smaller scale situation, Cotter’s contributions to the offense were many and often with six goals in his first 12 games. Yet, he regressed far faster than Noesen did, with just 10 goals in his final 67 games in the regular season.

Like Noesen, Cotter has no points through four playoff games thus far.

When there wasn’t much left on the market offensively last summer, Fitzgerald turned to Tomas Tatar, hoping he’d bring back some of the chemistry he left on the Hischier line in 2022-23. Erik Haula struggled to contribute offensively, and even went 28 games between goals from November to March. Curtis Lazar has struggled to even remain in the lineup, and Nathan Bastian’s usage has been minimized.

All the aforementioned have contributed little to nothing on the scoresheet.

So where has this left the Devils?

Their once potent offense free fell, scoring 2.98 goals per-game at 5-on-5 this season, finishing 21st in the NHL. Even in 2023-24 when they were demolished by injuries, they scored 3.22 goals per-game, which ranked them 12th in the NHL. And in 2022-23, New Jersey was the third-best offense, scoring 3.52 goals per game.

The Devils’ power play through December 23rd buoyed them through the remainder of the regular season. However, after the holiday, they regressed from converting on 31.2% of their man advantages to 25.2%. Although that doesn’t seem like a major regression, the Devils certainly went through their dry spells.

Those woes on the man advantage have, again, made itself present in the playoffs. The Devils’ power play is 0-for-12 through four games, and that’s literally been the difference between New Jersey and Carolina.

Each team has scored seven goals at even strength in the first round matchup. Yet, the Hurricanes have taken three of four games thus far, as they’ve been able to net four power play goals.

Away from the power play, the Devils have received zero goals from any of their bottom-six forwards in the series. Even head coach Sheldon Keefe isn’t expecting offensive contribution from his forward depth.

“Offense has been a challenge for our team most of the season,” Keefe said after Game 4. “So, to expect (depth guys) to come out and dominate (offensively) is probably not realistic.”

Other than Simon Nemec’s double overtime goal, only Hischier, Bratt, Meier, and Mercer have filled the net against the Hurricanes.

Suffice to say, the Devils’ shortcomings have been the same all season and have trickled into when it matters most. Their shortcomings aren’t because they miss Jack Hughes. It’s not because of the injuries on the blueline, either. The confidence in the Devils’ offense by Fitzgerald this season was overstated. Ultimately, they’re one loss away from it being their undoing.

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