NJ Devils Tom Fitzgerald Press Conference Reactions, Signings & More

NJ Devils Tom Fitzgerald Press Conference Reactions, Signings & More

Welcome back Devils fans. It is your host Ace here on Running with the Devils where we are talking New Jersey Devils hockey all year long. Please hit that subscribe button, smash the like, share with a friend. Thank you very much. And last week, New Jersey Devils general manager Tom Fitzgerald finally had his end of the season press conference alongside head coach Sheldon Keefe. I’m here to talk about that and a couple other things about the team moving forward into next season. And you know, I’m going to start off with my thoughts on the press conference. There was a lot to go through. I took some notes. Um, it wasn’t that long, but it wasn’t short either. They said a lot. But, uh, as usual, the audio was tragic on the video. You could not hear a lot of the reporters um, questions fully, and it’s just kind of annoying. I just hope one day they could get it together so that we could get the experience that most professional teams can give the fans. But Fitz and Keith both said they wanted to be consistent contenders. Now, I know we all as Devils fans want the team to be consistent contenders. And while I feel we aren’t that far away, it, you know, is slightly discouraging. Listen, uh, I try to be optimistic as much as possible. I know a lot of times I am extremely negative, but that’s just, you know, my feelings. You guys know how I am. I speak my truth. And after that 22-23 season, which saw a franchise record with 112 points and a glorious 7game victory over the New York Rangers in the first round, it seems like we’re we’re further back uh than we were then. I really thought that was going to be the turnaround where we were going to be a perennial playoff team with a chance to go deep every year from there on out. And that hasn’t happened. We followed that season up last year with missing the playoffs and then this year, what a crazy season. the highest of highs, the lowest of lows built up a nice cushion early on luckily and were able to kind of limp into the playoffs, but we got handled real quick. Canes bounced us in five and it sucked. It really sucked. I’m still depressed over all of it. But I am hoping that somehow someway they are able to be consistent contenders, but that starts with making inseason moves. And for the past two years, we haven’t seen any moves of substance in my opinion to bolster the lineup. We really haven’t. This year, I thought we might see a more active fits leading up to the deadline and at the deadline. And obviously, the deadline day was what it was. Very underwhelming moves that did not move the needle. And while a lot of people are like, “Oh, you know, Jack,” and blaming the injuries and all these things, you can’t just throw your hands up and chalk up a season when your star player goes down. I mean, if that’s the case, then what kind of team do you really have if you believe it’s not worth trying to help the rest of the guys? It just doesn’t make sense. I don’t like it. But I would love to see this team be consistent contenders. I do think we have a lot of good pieces in place. The roster, specifically the bottom six, needs a little bit of an overhaul this summer. Whether that comes from, you know, free agency, uh, trades. I I don’t know, you know, how many trades we’re going to make for bottom six guys. I do think we will see some of the kids get an opportunity and then maybe a couple free agents, but I’ll get into all that a little bit later. But consistent contenders. I hope soon. I really hope soon. Sheldon Keefe had mentioned that the Devil’s problem was sustaining our game and level of play. Not surprising there, right? We saw a very good team at that Christmas break amongst the best in the league and they had your boy Ace really believing that this could be a special season. I was very high on the team coming into the season after the off seasonason we had with all the big signings with Dylan and Peshi trading for Cotter Kovas signing Nason obviously my boy Marky and Net I was fired up for the season had high expectations and they looked like they were living up to that at the Christmas break we were a juggernaut NHL record guys NHL record holding the opponents to 20 shots or less for seven consecutive games What the hell happened to those guys? They had me really believing. You don’t set NHL records like that by accident. That is a feat. But the Christmas break came and it all kind of spiraled and it was unfortunate. Fitz then went on to say, “We’re not here to be average.” I mean, I would say the definition of this season in a nutshell was average. Mediocrity, average, whatever you want to call it. That’s how it played out. We were average for sure and below average I would say last year missing the playoffs you’re below average. Um it’s rough. It’s really rough. But I would like to see some moves made that reflect this sentiment. If you’re not here to be average, then go do things to this roster to make them above average. And there’s a lot to be done this summer. It’s going to be very interesting to see how it plays out. And then the old injury card. Fitz said we can’t control injuries. No, you can’t control injuries, but we have a lot of guys that unfortunately are injuryprone. Four four or five guys were injured both this season that just ended and the season prior. And so I do believe that while you cannot control injuries, you must have some sort of mitigation plan for when they inevitably happen. Whether that’s having better depth at the forward position um in the farm system or being willing and able to pull the trigger maybe on a trade sooner than you’d like to fill holes, but you can’t blame injuries every year because this is a thing in the league and it’s really been a thing for the New Jersey Devils for the past couple years. And you have to have a plan for when they happen. They’re going to happen next year, too, guys. I hate to tell you, we’re not going to have a perfectly healthy lineup all of next season. And so, how will Fitz navigate those waters when these injuries happen? It is what it is. The injuries thing, I’ve never seen anything like it. To prominent players, too. It’s not like, oh, depth guys getting injured. You have star players getting injured. Obviously, Jack and Nico, uh, it’s just Douggee Hamilton. It just doesn’t stop. I hope next year we could be much more healthy than we were this year, but injuries are a part of the game and they’re really attached right now to this Devils club and hopefully next year it kind of subsides. Someone had asked Fitz what to do to get the team over the hump. And then Fitz said, “I like our group. My job is to better the group.” Okay, we’re gonna see how he betters the group this offseason. Again, like I said, bottom six definitely getting a little bit of a renovation. Big question marks in that bottom six for sure. And then Fitz also said it won’t be the same group. It wasn’t good enough. Well, that’s a little refreshing. Obviously, it wasn’t good enough. um the tale of two teams and my biggest gripe with that is the problems were clearly evident by late January. I mean, it’s just the inactivity and kind of waiting that I’m not happy about. I know a lot of you aren’t as well. And I’m not trying to be overly negative. I’m just trying to be realistic, but it was, you know, the signs were there. The signs were there. Nothing happened in another season down the drain. Um, I hope next year there is a much I guess more of an urgency. I’ll say more of an urgency that when problems show themselves that they’re addressed quickly. That is my biggest kind of gripe with this whole thing is just seeing the issues and then just sitting back and waiting. It’s not an effective tactic to improve your team and make the team better. It’s just not. Fitz then went on to say there was no secret what he was looking for at the deadline. He went hard at it, made quality offers, and came in second. He didn’t say came in second again, but that’s what he said on deadline day. But again, you you have to have a plan A, B, C, D, maybe even E, right? If you don’t get the guy you’re really going after, you kind of have to have a priority list of, okay, if we can’t get him, move on to the next guy. It can’t be all or nothing on one guy. In my opinion, I think that’s kind of a wild approach to take when you’re trying to better a team. That had potential. last season’s team, the 24-25 New Jersey Devils, did have potential, but the inconsistency really killed us. And obviously again, the injuries, it’s um it’s a lot to overcome. And then Fitz patted himself on the back a little bit about Dumlain. Talked about how he stepped in, played big minutes, played great for the team, which I agree, Dumalan was a pleasant surprise because of the injuries again, including one suffered in the playoffs. We were already injured going into the playoffs, but then Luke and Dylan go down in game one. Obviously, Dumlan’s minutes skyrocket as a result and he did a great job and I thought prior to this press conference with the injuries right now in this very moment to Kovas Evan Dylan that there maybe would be a chance he would try to resign Dumalin, but it seemed like based on what he said that Dumlain is likely not going to be back, which I’m okay with. But, you know, with the revelation of Kovasevich going to miss some time next season, I thought that may have opened the door for Dumlain to be brought back. But based on what Fit said, it doesn’t seem like that’s going to happen. And then he was asked about Jim Rutherford’s comments on Quinn Hughes. Oh, baby, baby. What a juicy kind of loaded question. Uh, you all know the comments that came out of Vancouver a couple weeks ago after the Canucks season ended where Rutherford basically said, you know, Quinn wants to go play with his brothers. It’s kind of beyond my control. Um, and then kind of did some tampering at the podium and said something along the lines of, you know, he could try to bring his brothers there. Kind of wild stuff. nothing happened as a result of it, but it did seem to me like Rutherford was priming Kucks fans for an inevitable Quinn Hughes deal. Keep an eye on that. I do think that could possibly happen this summer. Very interesting. And maybe Rutherford did mention it to kind of put the ball in Fitz’s court and kind of get the public discourse rolling. Who knows? But I do think it was more to kind of let Kucks fans know like, listen, he wants to play with his brothers. He’s here for two more years. My hands are tied. What am I going to do? Uh Fitz said he can’t comment on another player and kind of went into the whole thing about how he’s not going to talk about it. Um but it’s definitely interesting. Maybe there’s a kind of media chess match between Fitz and Rutherford right now. And who knows, for all we know, they could be talking about getting a deal done for Quinn right now. I’ll have a video or two probably coming out about that in the next, I don’t know, week or two. I did a video about it a couple weeks ago with kind of where it stood at the time. There’s been slightly new developments, not many, but something to keep an eye on. I mean, Quinn Hughes coming to the Devils would certainly be a blockbuster headline. And then someone asked Fitz about how he said he wasn’t worried about the offense in the past. And Fitz said, “Guys underachieved, which I agree with. Uh, I cannot kill Fitz for the roster we had going into the season.” I was very happy with it. I really was and I talked about it at length and multiple times uh throughout the offseason and even early on in the season. I said I did love Fitz’s off season. Filled a lot of holes, shor up the net with Marky, got some physicality, tenacity in Carter and N. You know, some some nastiness on the blue line and Dylan and Kovvich. I liked the offseason a lot, but I also said at that time that the real report card for me for fits would come during the season because that is when the big boy moves are made. How do you adjust the roster when you kind of see how it’s playing out when you can identify specific areas that need to be improved on? What do you do in the season? And as it stands right now, I do not have any confidence in Fitz with his in-season moves because they’ve been fairly non-existent or at least impactful moves have been non-existent. They’ve been little, you know, depth defenseman and fringe bottom six guys and it’s just not enough. It’s not enough and they got to find a way. But I do agree that going into the season on paper I really did like the team. There was obviously some question marks. The biggest one being the top six obviously which you know Tatar did not pan out in that capacity and a whole lot of other things but I kind of understood how we got there with the cap crunch and everything and the big summer we had there wasn’t a lot of money but the top six guy was the glaring omission in my opinion uh Tyler Tofoley not resigned left a void with his production and so the offense struggled as a result. I never anticipated it struggling as much as it did, but here we are. The bottom six really did underachieve. And so in that regard, he is correct. My my biggest issue again is that once you saw they were underachieving for a very long time, you got to do something about it. And in my opinion, Cody Glass and Daniel Sprung on deadline day is not really fixing that to the best of your ability in my opinion. You know, it is what it is. And then on the topic of depth scoring, Fitzy went on to say, “What is depth scoring?” That was kind of baffling. I mean, what is depth scoring? I think we all kind of have an idea of what depth scoring is, and we all suffered as a result of not having it last season, but he start kind of talked about he was talking to the analytics guys, assistants, and all these things. And it’s like, you know, I think it’s pretty self-explanatory. We need guys in the bottom six that could contribute somewhat regularly. Not saying they have to be rock stars, but they have to produce something. And much of the bottom six produced next to nothing for the majority of the season. And when your top dogs like Nico, Brad, Jack when he’s healthy, Teemo, when they get shut down, you you need other guys to step up. And we weren’t getting that. And we essentially were a two-line team for a lot of the season. And then at the end, it was basically a oneline team. I mean, it is such a shame. The pieces are there, guys. The pieces are there. I do believe in the studs we have, but they need to be surrounded by guys that could help them out. They cannot pull the weight every single night. Some nights other guys are going to have to get it done. And hopefully we could find some bottom six guys that could do just that for next season because if not, I think it’s going to be another long season in New Jersey. Hopefully Marky could kind of get back to that top top of his game where we saw him earlier on in the season where he was a legitimate Vzna caliber goalie. We’re going to need that again from Marky. Uh and I love Marky. Um hopefully we could have a big year for him next year. Fitz was asked about his expectations on Gritsuk and he said he’s going to have an opportunity which I think was kind of a given. A lot of people have been excited about the possibility of Gritsuk coming over from the KHL. Arguably the most exciting offensive prospect in the system. Um has been doing his thing in Russia and now he’s going to be here. Uh, I’ll I’ll circle back to him at the end of this, but Gritsuk is gonna have a real shot and I would be stunned if he’s not on the opening night roster. He will certainly be a devil next year and I’ll talk about kind of what I’m expecting out of him for next year later on. Fitz also asked about any long-term concern about building around Jack given his injuries, which I think is a very fair question, right? Unfortunately, in Jack’s career in this league, he has not played 82 games in a single season. there’s always something he’s getting injured. Um, and it happens and I think it’s a fair question. I think it’s a question that a lot of fans have kind of wondered like is Jack the guy can you rely on him? Uh, and I love Jack Hughes, dynamic player, but the reality is he is injured every single season and is this going to be kind of a theme throughout his career? I certainly hope not, but the fear is there for me that it could be that it could be. And then Fitzy went on to kind of talk about how Jack knows what he has to do. Um, you know, the responsibility is kind of on him. He talked about him physically growing, that he’s getting into his man body, which is all good stuff. Again, Jack Hughes still very young. Um, should hopefully get bigger and stronger over the next couple years, but it’s going to take a lot of work off the ice in the gym, training, all that stuff. And this is another summer where he’s not really going to be able to do any of that because he is going to be rehabbing from this shoulder surgery. And so it’s just kind of a vicious cycle. Hopefully he could stay healthy next year, have a monster year, hopefully finally eclipse that 100 point mark and just be a beast for this Devils club and have a big off season next summer where he could hopefully, you know, really start to work on that strength. Strength and size. Got to have it in this league. Fitz was then asked about bringing Jake Allen back, which is something a lot of us have talked about on many of the lives. Fitz does like his veterans, and he certainly likes his veterans in between the pipes. Allen did an outstanding job last season alongside Marky. Um, the best goalie tandem we’ve had in years and years. The numbers reflect it. And I thought there was an opportunity for Fitz to try to bring Allen back potentially. And he said he’s going to talk to his agent. So, I just don’t see with the cap crunch we’re going to have this summer, Luke is going to get a massive payday, uh, and some of the bottom six needs, there’s not a ton of money to go around. And based on the numbers Allen had last year, I do believe he could find a team to probably give him, you know, maybe six or seven million bucks for two years in a tandem and has a nice insurance policy to a starting goalie just in case of injury. Um, I don’t see how the Devils could pay that. Uh, outside of Allen signing here for super cheap because he loves New Jersey and wants to be here. I just don’t see how we would be able to match any sort of offer he gets from other places. He’ll certainly get a lot of one-year deals and I think if he finds the right scenario, he could get a two-year deal. Like I said, maybe six, seven million bucks, you know, a little three, three and a half million a year. Wouldn’t be surprised at all. Veteran goalie, has experience, had a great season. Uh, I will keep an eye on that. And I will say I will be shocked if he is back just because I do think he will command a nice chunk of money in the offseason. I just don’t see where it’s coming from for the Devils to bring him back. Coupled with the fact that I think you got to give Nico Daws his chance, right? Uh Marky’s signed up for the upcoming season and he does not have any deal beyond that. Now, I’ve said even when we got Marky, depending on how he plays, his health, we could see Marstrom sign for another year or even two beyond his current contract. I would love to see it. I hope Marky dominates next year and he gets another year or two um and really puts us in a win now position for at least a couple more years being next season and the season after at a minimum. But at some point, Nico Daw is going to have to get an opportunity to kind of play in that tandem while working towards the starting role for when Marky’s done. So, I just think, you know, with Daws in the wings and the money Allen’s going to get, I would like to see Marky and Daws next season, but keep an eye on it. Maybe we see Jake Allen back. Then Sheldon Keith was asked about Sprung and if he’d want to see him back. He complimented him a bunch, talked about different aspects of his game that he liked with Spang, uh, and then kind of at the end said, you know, it’s Fitz’s job to give us the best roster and he’s going to look at all the options, yada yada. And so I don’t expect him to be back, but nothing would surprise me at this point. I do think there’s going to be some kind of patchwork assembly of the new bottom six. Spraw could be a part of it. We’ll find out. Time will tell, guys. We’re in midMay. This off seasonason is going to be so long. The weeks are just crawling by. Johnny Kovasvich update. He had a surgery last week and he’s not going to be ready for training camp and a lot of people speculating he may miss several months to start the season. Fairly devastating news in my opinion. You all know I love Johnny Kovvich. Uh fell in love with him in October pretty early on in his Devils career. I do think he’s going to be a big part of the blue line for years to come and that brings us a Stanley Cup, but he’s going to miss some time and that’s that’s brutal. The injury bug, it just does not go away. So, Johnny Kovvich, we’re going to be without him to start the season. Brutal, brutal stuff. Then Fitz was asked about Lenny Hamo and he laughed and said, “Announcement coming soon.” Um, which I forget if it was that same day or the next day, but it is official. Lenny Hamo has signed his entrylevel deal. and he was the second most exciting offensive prospect to me only to Gritsuk. I saw Hamo in person at prospect camp. Uh and he looked really good. Looked really good. He’s been doing pretty well. I’m going to circle back on him and Gritsuk at the end of this thing, but he has signed his entry level deal. And then Fitz was asked kind of about the season of Shimon Nemitz. Fitz went on to talk about, you know, how he had some ups and downs and he thinks the injury that he suffered in the world set him back. Maybe the new coach coming in was a shock to him and he had to adjust. But it was all kind of the future is bright. You know, we like Nemet sort of stuff. And I do think Nemitz is going to be a very good defenseman in this league. What a what a playoff run he had after the up and down season with going to Udica and then coming at the end of the season in and out of the lineup. He goes and scores that double overtime winner in game three and he played some some big situations and some decent minutes and looked pretty good. And so what a turnaround kind of story for Shimon Nemitz. I’m expecting him now especially with all the injuries. He should be in the the lineup for opening day. I I can’t see how he wouldn’t be opening night player barring any other injuries or setbacks. Keith has asked about the importance of Nikicoish to the team. Uh, and Keef kind of sung his praises and he said how Nico hasn’t had an easy shift all year. He’s constantly going up against the other team’s top lines trying to shut them down. He talked about how Nico does everything that he’s right up there with the Selki nominees. He spoke of the importance of Nico’s leadership and the leadership group on the team. Um, and how, you know, some of the other guys brought in kind of help Nico with that. I’m assuming he was talking about like, you know, Dylan and Nason, some of the more veteran guys. Definitely Jacob Marstrom as well. I do know that Marky is a very vocal guy and definitely one of the leaders on the team. Man, love Marky. He’s such a fiery dude. Love me some Jacob Marstrom. But um then Fitz was asked about the medical team’s processes. I know a lot of people have been kind of pointing the finger at the, you know, strength and conditioning or the medical team like for all the injuries, which I’ve always thought is ridiculous. I mean, if guys are injuryprone and these things happen, like there is nothing in my opinion that these medical team members can do to prevent this. And so for people to suggest it, I think is kind of crazy. But that has kind of been a a thought I’ve seen kind of reoccurring in different posts and comments and things, people like pointing the finger at others. And it’s like at some point that, you know, it’s a lot of bad luck. It’s a lot of, you know, guys just being injuryprone. And it is what it is. I’m definitely not pointing the finger at the medical team, but a lot of people have. And Fitz went on to say, you know, this is a contact sport. Injuries are unavoidable and it is what it is. Uh, I would love to see it diminished in the seasons to come. We’ve been decimated by injury for a couple years now and it sucks. It really sucks and hopefully we could get past it sooner than later. Fitz was then asked about what he thinks about offer sheets and if they will become a more prominent and commonly used tactic in the league and he said he thinks it could, but you got to have the cap space and strategically target guys. But he thinks teams will try it. There’s a couple guys that are offer sheet eligible coming up and who knows, maybe we’ll see some teams get froggy and and throw out some of these offer sheets. It’s something that we haven’t seen too often in the league. There has been cases of teams trying it. It was kind of frowned upon for years and years, but who knows? This could be the the summer of the offer sheet, so we’ll find out. But lots of interesting stuff in the press conference. Uh, you know, I just want to see this team win, guys. I want to see this team win a cup more than anything. The last one being 22 years ago. I was a young buck, 17, on the verge of turning 18 my senior year of high school. What a glorious spring and summer it was. And it’s just been so long. So long. And then obviously we had the the 2012 Miracle Cup run that we lost. But it’s been 22 years since we won a cup. And we need to win a cup with this core. I mean, not winning a single cup with the core we have in place would be just tragic on so many levels. It honestly would be tragic not to win two, but years are ticking down. Seasons go by quick. And I’ve been saying this forever. Careers go by in the blink of an eye just like that. And just like that, guys, Jesper Brat and Nicoir have played in this league for eight years and they have one single playoff round win to show for it. One. Seven total games. The future must be now. The future is now. And hopefully we see some moves that kind of reflect that mentality. But it’s going to be a long offseason. And so, like I said, this just came out the other day. Hamo Inc.’s entry level contract. This was the headline they put out. I’m going to spare you the, you know, the words of the article, but he’s here now and he’s going to have an opportunity for next season. Uh, I think the odds would probably have him starting in Udica, but I think he could play his way onto the roster. I really do. We take a look at his stats for the past couple seasons. In Finland, in 23-24, he played in 46 regular season games, had 14 goals, 17 assists for 31 points, which is very respectable. And then you look at the playoffs he had that season. Six games and he had four goals and eight assists for 12 points. Two points a game in the playoffs. Love to see that. Give me guys who step up in playoffs any day. And he had a very good regular season and playoffs two seasons ago and the season that just passed. We look at the stats. 58 games played, 20 goals, 31 assists for 51 points. A little shy of a point per game. And then the 10 playoff games he played in, he had one goal, four assists, five total points. It’s not too shabby. Half a point a game and he’s going to have a chance. What will he do in training camp? What will he do in the preseason? I do think, like I said, he’s probably on the Devil’s board as scheduled to start in Udica. But with the turnover in the bottom six and with the need to get some guys that are going to contribute, I think he’s gonna have every chance. Now again, if I had to predict, I would predict he starts in Udica, but I think there’s a very real chance that he makes the opening night lineup and would love to see it. Would love to see it. So, keep an eye on that. It’s it’s a very interesting kind of development for training camp for sure. And then we go to Gritsuk. Two years ago in the KHL, Gritsuk played 50 games, 19 goals, 19 assists for 38 points. And in 10 playoff games, had four goals, two assists for six points. And now the past season that just passed us by, 49 games played, 17 goals, 27 assists for 44 points. Very close to that point per game. And he had a goal and four assists for five points in six playoff games. And so Gritsuk is a guy that will be on this team opening night for sure. The question is in what capacity. I do believe again prediction, he’s going to be a decent bottom six player for this team. What is the kind of dream? The dream scenario is that he could step in and contribute in the top six at some point. I don’t think he’ll start there, but with injuries and all the things that happen throughout a training camp in preseason, you never know. I would be a little surprised if he cracked the top six right away, but I do think he firmly starts in the bottom six, contributes, and has a chance to play his way into the top six. But Gritsuk will be on this team next year. He is one of the pieces that will make up the new look of the bottom six and Hamu is going to have a chance as well. Very curious to see how that all plays out. But two exciting guys to keep an eye on in training camp and preseason. I’m looking forward to it. It can’t come soon enough. Preseason is roughly I don’t know what four months training camp. Four months or so away. A little more than four months for preseason and it’s going to be agonizing. This is going to be a very long offseason for your boy. I really thought coming into the year that this was going to be different. I really thought, you know, we were going to win at least a round or two, but injuries decimated us again. No big moves made and here we are. And it’s depressing. Uh I’m enjoying watching some of the playoffs. I haven’t been watching nearly as much as I have in previous years. I got a lot going on in my life, tied up and busy, but I’ve definitely watched some. And for those that don’t believe physicality matters, you’re I don’t know what you’re watching. I mean, some of these games are just downright wars and and getting ugly. I mean, the Toronto Florida series, wow. Just big hits, scrums, bad blood. Matthew Kachchuck looking to kill people, star players getting popped. I mean, this is the playoffs, guys. This is the war. And this is what I have been talking about forever now. Again, to clarify, I’m not saying to go out and get a bunch of thugs. That’s not what I mean by physicality. I mean, guys that can play, can score goals, can pass, can hit, but also have that mean streak. And you need guys like that to go on deep runs. Just watch these games and you will see exactly what I’m talking about. And while I think getting Carter and Nason was a step in the right direction last offseason, we need more of those guys. Two guys is not enough. And then obviously I can’t discredit Teemo Meer. He was probably the one guy that we had prior to last offseason that kind of fits the bill. Absolutely love Teemo. You guys know that about me. Uh, complete bull. He’s a menace. Could score, gets under opponent’s skin, can hit people, not afraid of mixing it up. But Teemo was really the only guy. And then we added Nason and Carter. And it’s a step in the right direction, but we need more. We need more grit with skill. Not just grit, but it’s got to be the right kind. Skilled grit. And we’ll see if we could bring some in in the offseason. But wow. Uh, I miss you guys. Uh, this was kind of I don’t know how long I’ve been on here. This seems like a pretty long video, but thank you if you made it this far. Uh, let me know what you think about anything I mentioned in this video. Anything, everything Devils hockey, just throw it out there in the comments. You know, I love talking to all of you and I’ll be back soon. I have a bunch of stuff in the works, but I’m not going to lie, my spirits have still been down after getting eliminated and uh, it’s kind of a struggle to get in here and do these things, but I have a bunch of stuff coming up. Jay Pandalfo interview will be finally coming out soon and I have a bunch of other things I kind of want to talk about. So I have a little queue of videos to record but I’ll be back obviously very soon. And that’s it guys. Thank you all for watching. I love you all. Like, comment, subscribe, and all that jazz. Until next time, friends. Let’s go. [Music] [Applause]

New Jersey Devils General Manager Tom Fitzgerald met with the media last week to discuss the season and talk about the team moving forward. Many areas were discussed. I give my thoughts on several of these topics.

In this video I also talk about my expectations for Arseni Gritsyuk and Lenni Hameenaho for next season.

I discuss all of this and MUCH more in this video.

Let me know your thoughts in the comments.

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