The New Jersey Devils know the season is slipping away from them. And yet, that’s only a factor in the scariest part of a withering 2025-26.
After a shameful 3-0 loss to the Columbus Blue Jackets on Tuesday in which the Devils let important points slip through their fingers, Sheldon Keefe exclaimed his top players need to make more of an impact.
While defending his systems with adamance that his coaching style is not the problem, the Devils’ head coach admitted he’s felt the season is lost.
“It’s been like that for a while,” Keefe said. “That’s why I’m talking in the way that I am. Because, like, the moments are so big for us. We’re right there in terms of setting ourselves up for it, but we gotta make a step. And clearly, we have a long way to go. There’s too many guys that don’t have the confidence in having to make the plays. Too many guys at once.”
A few things have become clear with the Devils this season. For starters, they were poorly constructed coming into 2025-26. They’re a fragile group that fold within themselves when times get tough. Their franchise forward is even more brittle, who is on pace to play 61 games this season, his third in a row in which he’s barely reached the 60-game plateau.
And although Keefe is defending his systems, perhaps the head coach could use a bit of truth syrem. The once fast-pace, high-scoring, supremely skill Devils are now playing slow-moving, low-event hockey, are starved for goals, and on most nights, equally as hungry for saves.
Suffice to say, the Keefe & Tom Fitzgerald era isn’t going as well as anticipated.
Yet, the scariest thing about the Devils isn’t what happened in the past. It’s not even the present disappointment. It’s the future, and the fact that the Devils GM still has the keys to the kingdom.
At this point, Fitzgerald is managing for his job.
We’ve heard countless times that the Devils GM is working the phones. He pulled off a Devils trade to clear cap space when he sent Ondrej Palat to Long Island. That’s anticipated to be step one.
Yet, what is step two? Because that’s the frightening thing in all this.
Fitzgerald was adament that playoffs are still the goal this season just a few weeks ago. Although it’s improbable, Fitzgerald still has authority over the roster, and very well could make a trade to try and save the season, and his job.
Said trade is yet to be determined, but the Devils have a 5.6% chance to make the playoffs according to MoneyPuck. And that’s just one public model. Others are similar, or even lower.
The Devils should probably be holding onto this years first round pickand #WinNevaForMcKenna.
Or, the choice should be for another GM, who can decide to either hang onto it, or at least use it in a big picture trade to course correct New Jersey’s future.
So much went wrong in 2025-26 for the Devils. All roads lead to Fitzgerald, however, despite the issues stemming from multiple avenues. But the Devils won’t succeed with a quick fix. They need a total re-tool.
The Devils’ future is unclear. Perhaps it’s apparant that a GM change is coming, but it’s not just yet. And the most important date, the 2026 NHL Trade Deadline, is ahead.
The directionless Devils have a man in charge who is fighting to save his job. It’s a situation no organization wants to be in, which could significantly derail the future. The Devils lived in dark times between 2012 and 2022—with 2017-18 being the exception, of course.
It would be a shame to see the Devils fall back on hard times so quickly.
