{"id":545460,"date":"2026-04-07T12:26:17","date_gmt":"2026-04-07T12:26:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/545460\/"},"modified":"2026-04-07T12:26:17","modified_gmt":"2026-04-07T12:26:17","slug":"new-jersey-devils-general-manager-tom-fitzgerald-departs-from-organization","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/545460\/","title":{"rendered":"New Jersey Devils general manager Tom Fitzgerald departs from organization"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg\">The <a class=\"text-secondary underline underline-offset-2\" hreflang=\"en\" href=\"https:\/\/www.dailyfaceoff.com\/teams\/new-jersey-devils\/line-combinations\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">New Jersey Devils<\/a> have announced that general manager and president of hockey operations Tom Fitzgerald has departed from the organization.<\/p>\n<p class=\"tweet-body_root__YlarM\" lang=\"en\" dir=\"auto\"><a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/hashtag\/BREAKING\" class=\"tweet-link_root__lkS8f\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\">#BREAKING<\/a>: New Jersey Devils Managing Partner David Blitzer announced today that Tom Fitzgerald will depart the organization.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg\">\u201cTom and I had a thoughtful conversation today and agreed it was time to move in a new direction,\u201d\u00a0Devils managing partner Dan Blitzer said in a statement released by the team. \u201cTom changed the trajectory of our team here, including setting a franchise record for points in a season and helping make New Jersey a hockey destination. He is a well-respected leader across the Devils\u2019 organization and NHL, and I am grateful for our friendship. I wish Tom and his family all the best. As we prepare to move forward, it is important I acknowledge our fans. I recognize we have not delivered in the way you expect and deserve and I understand and share in your frustration. This is a critical offseason for our franchise, and we will explore all avenues that best position the Devils to compete for a Stanley Cup once again.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg\">At this point, a replacement for Fitzgerald has not been announced, nor has an interim been named. It\u2019s not confirmed if assistant GMs Dan MacKinnon and Kate Madigan will also be departing the organization, but if they don\u2019t, it\u2019s assumed they will take over the role of interim through <a class=\"text-secondary underline underline-offset-2\" hreflang=\"en\" href=\"https:\/\/www.dailyfaceoff.com\/nhl-weekly-schedule\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">the five remaining games on the Devils\u2019 schedule<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg\">\u201cAfter talking with David Blitzer, it was apparent to everyone that the best course of action is to move on for the benefit of the team,\u201d Fitzgerald said. \u201cI am incredibly appreciative to David, Josh Harris, and the entire New Jersey Devils organization for being a part of my life for the past decade. The Devils are fortunate to have a core of great players, vocal and passionate fans, but most importantly, tremendous people who worked with me toward a common goal. I\u2019ve always said that New Jersey is a hidden gem and I\u2019m proud of the effort that we put in to raise the standard and make it a destination. I look forward to the next step in my hockey career and will always look back fondly on my time with the Devils.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg\">Fitzgerald was fired after a disappointing season which currently sees the Devils <a class=\"text-secondary underline underline-offset-2\" hreflang=\"en\" href=\"https:\/\/www.dailyfaceoff.com\/news\/teams\/nhl-standings\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">outside of a playoff spot by seven points with a 40-34-3 record<\/a>. While some of that can be chalked up to a competitive Eastern Conference, as the Devils would be in a playoff spot in the Western Conference, it\u2019s still disappointing after expectations of playoff and potentially Stanley Cup contention, especially after their 13-4-1 start.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg\">Fitzgerald spent parts of seven seasons as the GM, and 11 seasons total with the team, previously serving as an assistant GM. Since first assuming the role with an interim tag on January 12th, 2020, the Devils went 230-212-44 under Fitzgerald, and their .519 points percentage in that span is tied with the <a class=\"text-secondary underline underline-offset-2\" href=\"https:\/\/canucksarmy.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\" hreflang=\"en\">Vancouver Canucks <\/a>for 21st in the league.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The New Jersey Devils have announced that general manager and president of hockey operations Tom Fitzgerald has departed&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":542500,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[377],"tags":[5],"class_list":{"0":"post-545460","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-hockey","8":"tag-hockey"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nhl\/116363420243311825","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/545460","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=545460"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/545460\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/542500"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=545460"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=545460"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=545460"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}