Elliotte Friedman discussed the Nashville Predators GM opening on Kyper and Bourne this week and linked tom fitzgerald to that vacancy.
Elliotte Friedman on Kyper and Bourne
Claimed by Elliotte Friedman: "All of a sudden, there’s lots of rumors… are (the Devils) going to split up Tom Fitzgerald’s job?" Friedman then said: "Like, the other thing I was wondering too is that Nashville’s got an opening right now and I think they’re starting to get pretty serious about their interviews and Tom Fitzgerald was the first captain of the National Predators. Like, it seems to me that if he wouldn’t be the guy in New Jersey anymore, I think that would be the kind of guy that the Predators would at least want to interview, right?"
New Jersey Devils recent form
: The New Jersey Devils have a 40-37 total record and sit seven points out of a playoff spot, with an 11-7-1 stretch since the Olympics during which the Devils averaged 3.58 goals per game. : Sheldon Keefe is in his second-year as Devils coach and is currently in the top half of the NHL in term length.
Nashville Predators GM opening
: The Nashville Predators currently hold the final wild card spot in the West at 36-40, and Friedman claimed that Nashville is "starting to get pretty serious about their interviews." Fitzgerald’s link to the Predators creates immediate operational choices for New Jersey: Fitzgerald, named explicitly by Friedman, is both the human at the center of the story and the person whose job continuity matters to Devils staff and supporters.
: The wider NHL has seen recent front-office and coaching turnover that frames Friedman’s suggestion — one week earlier Bruce Cassidy was ousted by Vegas, and on Sunday the New York Islanders fired Patrick Roy and hired Pete DeBoer with four games left in the regular season; Pete DeBoer signed a four-year deal and coached New Jersey to its last Stanley Cup appearance and has reached six of the last seven conference finals. That sequence of moves adds pressure to clubs already interviewing and hiring candidates.
Tension: Friedman’s claim that Fitzgerald could draw a Predators interview conflicts with New Jersey’s on-ice facts — the Devils remain in a playoff chase (seven points back) while TankAThon gives New Jersey the 12th-best odds of winning the top draft pick at a 2.5% chance — creating a direct personnel dilemma for ownership and management about whether to retain Fitzgerald or permit outside interviews.
Which decision will New Jersey ownership make about Fitzgerald’s role: keep Fitzgerald in place through the playoff push or allow the Predators to interview him for their GM opening?
