Fitzgerald Has New Options to Shakeup Devils, Will He Use Them?

Thursday’s press conference with the New Jersey Devils general manager and head coach ended with a bit of a banger. Ever since last summer, offer sheets have been all the rage, and they might be in play for the Devils this summer.

The St. Louis Blues shocked the Edmonton Oilers in August, swiping Dylan Holloway and Philip Broberg out from under their feet via offer sheets.

Since then, the bold strategy that landed a thinning Blues roster two, 23-year-old NHLers with bright futures has been a hot topic. Devils GM Tom Fitzgerald foresees them being utilized more moving forward.

“I do, actually,” Fitzgerald said when asked if he thinks offer sheets will become more prevalent.

“It’s a tool to improve your team, but you got to have room in your cap space to use it. You probably have to strategically target players and players to do it, knowing full well that there’s no way a team can match because they don’t have the cap space.”

His openness about offer sheets came after Fitzgerald explained there will be changes to the roster after they underperformed in 2024-25.

READ MORE: Changes Coming, Devils GM Tom Fitzgerald Not Satisfied

The message was straightforward and clear.

The Devils GM put faith in his offense after focusing on defense and goaltending last summer. Yet, he was let down by the results. The Devils fell from the 12th ranked offense in the NHL scoring 3.22 goals per game in 2023-24, to the 21st ranked team netting 2.98 goals per game this season.

The traditional way to add in the summer is through trade or unrestricted free agency. Although offer sheets aren’t a new concept, their rise in popularity certainly is.

That’s likely because of the rising salary cap, giving some teams more flexibility to take the risk and delve out an offer slightly above a players’ market.

“A lot of teams have a lot more cap space. I think teams will try to do it,” Fitzgerald said. “I just don’t know how successful they’ll do it.”

Going into July 1st, the Devils will have $12,044,167 in cap space with Luke Hughes being their big-name in-house player who will need a new contract.

There’s a chance that the Devils hand Jack Hughes‘ brother a deal that will occupy a large portion of the $12M-plus they have to work with this summer.

Regardless, this isn’t your run-of-the-mill offseason for Fitzgerald.

The Devils GMs tenure has been a rollercoaster ride over the last three seasons as one of the top teams in the NHL, to missing the playoffs last season, and now a first-round exit.

He’s had positives by way of transactions such as acquiring Jacob Markstrom and Jake Allen to solidify the crease, adding Brett Pesce to the blueline and finding a gem in Johnathan Kovacevic.

However, there are still decisions that hand in the balance of uncertainty, such as Ondrej Palat’s contract and Dawson Mercer’s extension.

In short, Fitzgerald needs to get this summer right or his job could be on the line. The Devils’ window to win is open, and another press conference in April or May next season won’t suffice as progress.

Fitzgerald will have to be aggressive this summer in order to improve his roster. Offer sheets open up another pool of players to pursue, and is just another avenue he can take in order to improve.

The Devils have the compensation necessary to be in the mix for any restricted free-agent in terms of draft picks.

So will Fitzgerald choose to do what so many GMs have refrained from doing before?

Hey, he didn’t say no.

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