Five Questions with Tom Fitzgerald

NHL.com's Q&A feature called "Five Questions With …" runs every Tuesday. We talk to key figures in the game and ask them questions to gain insight into their lives, careers and the latest news.
The latest edition features New Jersey Devils general manager Tom Fitzgerald.

Tom Fitzgerald wouldn't be opposed to trading one of his three picks in the first round of the 2020 NHL Draft if it meant obtaining additional assets.
"I want to improve our team and these picks will do that," the New Jersey Devils general manager said. "Whether using them to continue to build up our prospect arsenal or moving a pick for a player who can fit into the Jack Hughes (19 years old) or Nico Hischier (21) age bracket now and for the foreseeable future."
The Devils own the No. 7 selection in the draft, as well as a first-round choice from the Arizona Coyotes and Vancouver Canucks to be determined at the conclusion of the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
They acquired Arizona's pick in the Taylor Hall trade Dec. 16 and got Vancouver's selection via the Tampa Bay Lightning in the Blake Coleman trade on Feb. 16. The Lightning previously had acquired the pick from the Canucks as part of the trade for forward J.T. Miller.
The 2020 NHL Draft will be held virtually Oct. 9-10. It was postponed from its initial date of June 26-27 due to concerns surrounding the coronavirus.
Fitzgerald, who played 17 seasons in the NHL and was named general manager of the Devils on Jan. 12 after Ray Shero was fired, wasn't exactly thrilled with the fact the rival New York Rangers got the No. 1 pick in the 2020 NHL Draft after winning the Second Phase of the NHL Draft Lottery on Aug. 10. But he realizes it was out of his control.
"As much as we are in competition with the Rangers, if I start worrying about what they have, I'm taking away from my ability to help move this franchise in the right direction," he said.
Here are Five Questions with … Tom Fitzgerald:
What did you learn most from Shero, who was your mentor?
"Ray was very organized, very honest, up front and very passionate about his work. He trusted me and respected my background. I think he viewed that as a good complement to himself. The respect that we have for one another and the ability to challenge the other are things I appreciated. I'm not a yes-man. I don't want to say I'm confrontational either, but when something's brought up, there's always that opposite side that pops into my brain like, 'Why wouldn't we try to do this?' I asked questions like that not because I thought I knew the answer, but because I was actually looking for the answer. Ray would have reasons why and then we'd continue to push down that road. I would lean on my playing days a lot when it came to situational things like that, whether it was personnel or making trades, because I lived it. I lived trades, lived moving away from family, trying to please an organization and making sure they knew they made the right choice of trading for me and just the pressure you put on yourself. Ray always took in all the information from the people around him so that he could make the appropriate decisions."
What has Jack Hughes been up to, and what are your expectations for him for 2020-21?
"He looks great, he's doing great. Our strength and conditioning coach (Mike Kadar) lives in his hometown, so he's watched him work out, taken him golfing and we're in constant communication with his in-town strength coach. The things he needs to improve upon are improving. Working out is addictive; when you start to see the results, you want more, and that's where Jack is at because he likes the results he's seeing and he's turning the corner. We want to figure out the optimal weight at which Jack can play, and we'll be doing testing on that and all our players where, physically, they need to be to optimize their potential. What are our expectations? I expect [Hughes] to be better than he was last year. That might be pretty broad, but I think he expects to be better. As far as production, he's going to have that opportunity once again to be a top forward on our team with ice time, especially on special teams and the power play. Nothing is just going to be handed to him; we've set up a development plan with him on situational play and how minutes grow. I want to see him out there at the end of a game, maybe playing left wing or as the second center on a defensive-zone face-off with 15 seconds and we're holding a 2-1 lead. That's what I envision and how we want to continue to grow his game, so it's giving him more opportunity to absorb in-game situations that he definitely didn't have last year."

When do you expect to name a captain?
"I don't anticipate us naming a captain before the start of the season, to be honest. I don't think there's a rush. I believe in the pack mentality; your leaders will step up. The best leaders are the ones who don't even have a letter to prove that they're leaders. I think it's a huge responsibility and I don't want that 'C' to be heavy because I've seen that happen and I know that pressure. I don't want to do that to somebody right off the bat, so there's no rush. Our leaders will continue to be the guys who lead with their voice and lead us on and off the ice, representing the organization in a respectful way."
What are you interested in adding to New Jersey's prospects pool?
"I think we have a really good balance, with forward Nolan Foote and defenseman Kevin Bahl in the pipeline ... those two add to those 'needed' positions. You bring in forwards Janne Kuokkanen, Nick Merkley ... same thing. We feel like we've got some good young defensemen in Ty Smith, Nikita Okhotyuk, a hard-nosed kid. Daniil Misyul made big contributions for his home country (Russia) at the 2020 World Junior Championship, and you feel good about that. We just want to continue to add quality players -- and with the No. 7 pick in the draft, we feel we will. I don't ever recall going through the depth of a top 10 where you can have it in so many different orders, and I'm sure teams do. But how do you pick the right person for your team? That's kind of what we're going through right now. We're not singling out a winger, a defenseman, a center ... you want the best prospect possible. Who can hit their upside and their ceiling the quickest? They all have high ceilings, and that's the crazy thing. It's been confusing in a way because you're likely to pick this guy, but you're always worried about missing out on the next guy. We're really doing our homework and having healthy debate to challenge each other on this."

Do you recall the moment you determined you would rather manage than coach?
"It was in 2009, when I went behind the bench (as an assistant for the Pittsburgh Penguins). I knew the development side of it was going to take me to a fork in the road eventually. You're dealing with players and helping the coaching staffs as a development guy, but I was also handed responsibilities as (assistant general manager) and talked to the kids' agents and negotiated some of the contracts and personnel decisions in Pittsburgh. That stuff was really intriguing. When I was asked to coach, I was just doing it because [then-Penguins GM Shero] asked me to do it. It worked out great; we won. But I knew. We had just swept the Carolina Hurricanes in the Eastern Conference Final and (then-Penguins coach) Dan Bylsma and I were driving back from the airport to our hotel in downtown Pittsburgh. Dan asked what my plan was and said he could use me behind the bench. I said to him, 'Dan, I have no intention of coming back to coaching.' I just did it to help the organization. I look at coaching like I look at playing. If you want to continue to play, you have to move around, and I didn't want that with my family. I wanted to raise my family in one place, wanted stability and this side of the business offered me that versus coaching. My wife tells me I should have stayed in coaching, though, because I'd be a lot richer. It wasn't for a lack of passion I had with coaching. It was more my being passionate about my family to raise them in one place, or at least try."