Tom Fitzgerald Ready To Go ‘Big Game Hunting’ in the Offseason

It was a mixed bag for the New Jersey Devils at the 2024 NHL Trade Deadline. The Devils were not in the position they wanted or expected to be in when the season started. Thus Devils President/General Manager Tom Fitzgerald made the best of the situation.

“We looked at this deadline as a transitional deadline,” Tom Fitzgerald said. “Moving forward how we can set ourselves up in the off-season cap-wise, grabbing some assets now. But remembering with our team and the core players that we have winning is important here.”

With the season slipping away, the Devils decided to be sellers at the deadline, moving free agents Tyler Toffoli and Colin Miller. Fitzgerald also addressed an area of weakness, which was goaltending. However, he did not get the number-one goalie everyone expected him to. Instead, he picked up Jake Allen and Kaapo Kahkonen.

Now Allen had to waive his no-trade clause to come to New Jersey. He needed some convincing from a former teammate to do so. Allen will be viewed as the backup next year and stabilizing the crease along with Kahkonen to allow Nico Daws and Akira Schmid to develop in Utica.

As part of the Kahkonen trade, Fitzgerald opened up cap space by sending Vitek Vanecek to the San Jose Sharks, and his salary cap hit $3.4 million. And if you think about it, Toffoli’s salary cap of $4.25 million is also off the books. He has an additional $6.525 million to play with in the summer to allow the Devils to make goaltending their number one priority.

“This off-season gives us a chance to look at the market, what’s going to be available this summer and really add something we haven’t had here in a while. That’s the goal,” he said. “This is an opportunity to set ourselves up this summer to have the cap space for a position of need. And quite honestly, be big game hunting.”

Devils President/General Manager Tom Fitzgerald knows even with his team out of a playoff position; the team was right to set things up for the future.

“So when I talk about the transitional deadline, it’s more like how do we help ourselves set up for the future without taking anything off our roster now,” Fitzgerald said.

We know the Devils need goaltending entering the summer. As Full Press Hockey reported, once the Jacob Markstrom trade fell through, the plan was to get that true number-one goalie come the summer, most likely at the 2024 NHL Draft.

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Markstrom will be the Devils number-one target in the offseason. Again, he will have to waive his no-trade clause, but he wants to go to New Jersey. In addition, names like Juuse Saros, John Gibson, Elvis Merzlikins, and Linus Ullmark will come up.

According to sources, Ullmark was asked to waive his no-trade clause to come to New Jersey and said no. He wants to finish out the season with the Bruins. Ullmark knows he is probably gone in the summer but wants one more run with the Bruins in the playoffs this year.

The Devils will also look to add to the blue line. New Jersey will have money to play with. There is a chance the Devils could re-engage in contract talks with Tyler Toffoli, but the two sides are so far apart that an extension could not be worked out now. The Devils must also sign Dawson Mercer to an extension if he is not part of any trades.

Tom Fitzgerald has another busy offseason ahead. The priority and need will be to find someone to replace Allen. Again, only time will tell who that is, but the Devils hope to make the biggest splash at that position.