In the intervening four years, Fitzgerald and his staff have rebuilt the Devils into a competitive hockey club, culminating last season with a franchise record 52 wins and 112 points as well as a First Round playoff victory against the New York Rangers in seven games.
“The reality is that Tom has done an amazing job,” Blitzer said. “Both from the standpoint of taking his time and putting this team together the way he has. This was built to last. I don’t mean necessarily everything you’re seeing today. It’s the systems, it’s the people, it’s the culture. It’s doing everything in an excellent way and a substantive way. He really brought the organization to a fantastic place.”
Fitzgerald has been with the organization for nearly a decade, joining the club as assistant general manager in July, 2015. In the subsequent years a lot has changed.
“I’ve grown a lot. I have a lot more areas to grow,” Fitzgerald said humbly. “I’m always preaching a growth mindset.”
“Tom is very, very measured,” Blitzer said. “He is listening, he is learning, and that is a great, great sign from a leadership perspective.”
Two areas in which Fitzgerald has grown is in his process and his patience.
In years past, Fitzgerald would make some decisions based on his gut instincts. But he’s learned over the years to look at a variety of factors, including his gut, in his decision-making process.
“We’re a process driven organization that looks at every step, step by step,” he said. “I can look back at certain decisions a decade ago that were more stomach driven. There’s a lot to be said about that, but when you can match the eye test to numbers it validates decision making.”
And going through that process, as well as making other decisions, has required biding his time.
“I used to be a little bit impatient. Now I’m very patient. I don’t want to be patient to a fault,” he said. “But I think being patient has helped us make proper decisions, good decisions, from personnel to contracts, term.”
Perhaps Fitzgerald’s biggest strength is the staff with which he’s surrounded himself.
“I always think one very important trait of a great leader is somebody who’s willing to hire great people around him,” Blitzer said. “He gets the last word, but he doesn’t need to have the first word and every word in the middle.”
“I’m dealing with good people. I have a great staff,” Fitzgerald said. “I can’t talk enough about my staff and how we push each other, disagreeing, debating. At the end of the day, it’s up to me to make these decisions. Having the staff that I have that push each other to think differently, think outside the box, learn and get better.”
Blitzer has seen firsthand how Fitzgerald has operated since 2015. And how he has evolved.
“I’ve known Tom coming up on nine years now. I’ve watch Tom in a variety of situations as you all know,” Blitzer said. “You can go through 15 or 20 moves that Tom and his team have made, and they’ve all been excellent and thoughtful.
“You’re not going to get everything right. That’s just not the reality. What you try to do is be thoughtful about your decision making, intentional, deep analysis, not shoot from the hip, and Tom and his team will make significantly more correct decisions than not over time. You’re never going to be perfect.”
Blitzer has also watched as Fitzgerald and his staff have taken a slow approach to building the Devils in the proper fashion for not only immediate success, but for long-term success.
“Putting things together, starting with the draft, then free agency, then with a variety of trades, he’s used everything in his toolkit that’s out there,” Blitzer said. “And being very focused on the cap, and not suddenly we can’t make any moves because we’re completely cap strapped. He’s been methodically building this for the long-term.”
And now, Fitzgerald – who’s orchestrated a few long-term contracts under his guise (Nico Hischier, Jack Hughes, Dougie Hamilton, Jesper Bratt, Timo Meier, Ondrej Palat) – has signed a contract of his own. And he couldn’t be more thrilled.
“I can’t tell you how great my life is because of where I’m at right now,” Fitzgerald said. “I speak for my entire family. They weren’t Devils fans nine-and-a-half years ago, now they’re diehard Devils fans.”
And the Devils ownership group would like to keep it that way. On Tuesday, both sides took a step in that direction. And Blitzer echoed his sentiment to Fitzgerald from that 2020 summer.
“As I have told him and continue to tell him, I’d be really happy if we could keep extending him,” Blitzer said reaching back and giving Fitzgerald a slap on the back.
Fitzgerald smiled, and responded: “That would be really great.”
