Fitzgerald wears the dunce cap. There’s an example of guy that doesn’t know how to build a team. He had gobs of cap space, used it on a bunch of unnecessary stuff.
Hey, let me fix my goaltending…so, he gets mr. Mediocre in Allen rocking a career .908. Even if that’s Pennies on the dollar, Allen is junk.
Came across this thread, and have to comment. Its easy to say that looking at hindsight. As a Devils fan I can say that Fitz definitely owns the blame for what happened this year, not because of what he did in the summer, but because of what he DID NOT do during the season.
1. It was obvious that Lindy needed to go after last year, but how do you let go of your coach after the team had a 112 point season. That being said, if Lindy was fired 1-2 months earlier the Devils probably are in a playoff spot now.
2. In regard to goaltending, both Vitek and Schmid had good seasons last year and Fitz did try to get Hellebuyk, but it was too expensive. I don't blame him for not overpaying and then having to extend Conner for $8m, but what I do blame him for is not solving the goalie issue during the season. And although the sample size has been small, Allen has been great since coming to NJ (.925% and a good GSAA). Even if Allen gave the Devils a .908 this year, they are playoff team, given that Vitek single handedly cost them 4-5 games. Lastly, this team suffered a lot of injuries: Dougie Hamilton (has been out since Nov), Nico, Jack, Timo, Seigenthaler etc. And despite all that they are still in the playoff race (I don't think they will make it obviously).
3.They also lost Severson and Graves (both of whom got overpaid and aren't good in Columbus, and Pitt, respectively). Both Nemec and Hughes had to play heavy minutes and although both will be great in the future, they obviously made mistakes as rookies.
The team has a great young core and with a few improvements will be good going forward, but this is part of the process of growing as a young team. If Fitz doesn't make the necessary improvements, then he must be let go.
