{"id":545505,"date":"2026-04-07T12:57:11","date_gmt":"2026-04-07T12:57:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/545505\/"},"modified":"2026-04-07T12:57:11","modified_gmt":"2026-04-07T12:57:11","slug":"n-j-devils-part-ways-with-gm-president-of-hockey-operations-tom-fitzgerald","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/545505\/","title":{"rendered":"N.J. Devils part ways with GM\/President of Hockey Operations Tom Fitzgerald"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"c-paragraph sections-franchises \">The Devils and GM\/President of Hockey Operations Tom Fitzgerald are mutually parting ways after he spent more than six years leading the front office. Under Fitzgerald\u2019s leadership, the Devils reached the playoffs twice &#8212; in 2023 and 2025, with just one playoff series win in those two runs. After a 16-7-1 start, The Devils \u201cgreatly disappointed and will miss the playoffs in 2026.\u201d It initially appeared that Fitzgerald \u201cwas building deep, puck-possession-oriented roster that had staying power among the NHL\u2019s elite teams.\u201d However, Fitzgerald\u2019s roster construction \u201cdrew widespread criticism this season\u201d (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.nj.com\/sports\/2026\/04\/devils-tom-fitzgerald-part-ways-for-a-new-direction.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Newark STAR-LEDGER, 4\/6<\/a>).<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph sections-franchises \">Sources mentioned that the team will\u202fnot\u202fhave an interim GM for the remainder of 2025-26. The search for Fitzgerald\u2019s long-term replacement &#8212; \u201cwhich has already begun &#8212; is ownership\u2019s No. 1 priority.\u201d Sources added that ownership has \u201cnot yet decided whether they\u2019ll hire one person to take the reins as general manager\/president of hockey operations or split the role into two.\u201d This is the \u201cmost important decision in franchise history &#8212; especially after such a disappointing half-decade\u201d (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.nj.com\/devils\/2026\/04\/whats-next-for-devils-after-firing-gm-tom-fitzgerald.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Newark STAR-LEDGER, 4\/7<\/a>).<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph sections-franchises \">The Devils are one of three NHL teams now searching for someone to head up their hockey operations, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sportsbusinessjournal.com\/Articles\/2026\/04\/01\/pelley-lays-out-maple-leafs-path-after-parting-with-treliving\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" title=\"https:\/\/www.sportsbusinessjournal.com\/Articles\/2026\/04\/01\/pelley-lays-out-maple-leafs-path-after-parting-with-treliving\/\">joining the Maple Leafs<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sportsbusinessjournal.com\/Articles\/2026\/02\/07\/caa-exits-predators-gm-search-after-nhlpa-review\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" title=\"https:\/\/www.sportsbusinessjournal.com\/Articles\/2026\/02\/07\/caa-exits-predators-gm-search-after-nhlpa-review\/\">the Predators<\/a>. Fitzgerald, who was the first captain in Predators history during his playing days, is \u201cconsidered a candidate for the opening in Nashville.\u201d The Devils\u2019 GM job will be \u201cviewed as very desirable by would-be candidates around the league.\u201d It is a team with \u201cstar core players that screams bounce-back next season\u201d (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/athletic\/7176974\/2026\/04\/06\/nj-devils-gm-tom-fitzgerald-fired-news\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">THE ATHLETIC, 4\/6<\/a>).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Devils and GM\/President of Hockey Operations Tom Fitzgerald are mutually parting ways after he spent more than&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":545506,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5109],"tags":[201,5,5472,576,151,5185,5184,4],"class_list":{"0":"post-545505","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-jersey-devils","8":"tag-devils","9":"tag-hockey","10":"tag-leadership","11":"tag-new-jersey","12":"tag-new-jersey-devils","13":"tag-newjersey","14":"tag-newjerseydevils","15":"tag-nhl"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nhl\/116363542085859703","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/545505","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=545505"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/545505\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/545506"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=545505"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=545505"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=545505"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}