NFL
New Jersey Devils Fire Tom Fitzgerald After 5 Seasons; Look To Head In New Direction
After 5 seasons of ups and downs with New Jersey, GM Tom Fitzgerald has been relieved of his duties after missing the playoffs for the 2nd time in 3 seasons. This comes after what looked like progress following a franchise-record-setting 2022-2023 Season in which the Devils set records in wins (52) and points (112). They currently find themselves 7 points behind Ottawa for the final playoff spot and hold on to a 40-34-3 record. This seems pretty bleak for a team that began the season at a blistering pace, going 13-4-1 and seeming to be one of the emerging teams in the East. Fitzgerald met with leadership and is no longer the GM as of yesterday afternoon.
The prevailing theory as to what is next for Fitzgerald is that he may be heading to Nashville to fill their GM vacancy this offseason. Tom leaves the Devils with a 218-204-39 record and many questions to answer this offseason. The Devils have a goaltending group under contract for at least a couple more seasons, along with a talented core. They should be in “win-now” mode heading into the Spring. Forward depth and bottom-4 Defensemen should be the primary goals for whoever takes the reins after the dust settles.
Vegas Golden Knights Fire Stanley Cup-Winning Coach Bruce Cassidy In Favor Of John Tortorella 2 Weeks Before Playoffs
On March 29th, Bruce Cassidy was relieved of his coaching duties. There were reports of a divided locker room and a poor culture after Vegas. It has been a tumultuous season for the Golden Knights, one that began with the controversial signing of goaltender Carter Hart. Hart was notably involved in the Hockey Canada scandal and alleged cover-up in 2022. There has been an absolute media circus surrounding this team from the jump. Maybe a change was needed. The Knights have gone 3-0-0 since bringing in Tortorella, moving within 1 point of 1st in the Pacific and defeating Edmonton 5-1 just a couple of nights ago. Bruce Cassidy will undoubtedly be one of the top coaching prospects this offseason. He won a Stanley Cup with the Knights in 2023 and held a record of 178-99-43 with the team.
New York Islanders Let Go Of Patrick Roy And Hire Pete DeBoer After Losing 7 Of Last 10 Games
The Knights would not be the last team to make a major coaching change. The Islanders would soon follow, releasing Patrick Roy and bringing in Pete DeBoer as a replacement. DeBoer was reportedly an option that was too good to pass up. According to Mathieu Darche, “Guys like Pete DeBoer don’t stay on the market very long… It’s like grabbing the number one free agent on the market.”
The Islanders are bringing in a coach with tons of experience and playoff wins on his resume. Pete is inheriting a talented, young roster and will have a good situation set up for himself on Long Island. Pete DeBoer has taken his teams to 5 of the last 6 Conference Finals between the Dallas Stars and Vegas Golden Knights. He will look to bring the same kind of success to the Isles as they look to the future. Pete will try to build on guys like Sorokin, Barzal, and 18-year-old Matthew Schaefer.
NHL Playoff Movers, Winners, and Losers
This time of year, teams rise and fall amidst the end-of-season playoff rush, and this year is no different. In fact, most would say that it has been exacerbated by the highly condensed schedule ever since the Olympic Break. Most teams are dealing with few days between games, lots of travel, and NHL playoff atmosphere hockey for an entire month. It’s even more if you count what the Olympians had to go through in February.
You may be saying things like “Oh, well, my team is dealing with injuries to X player.” “Well, my team has had no rest, and they look tired!” Guess what? I am here to tell you that all 32 teams are dealing with the same thing. They are all on as even a playing field as you can get this time of year. It is really starting to become clearer and clearer what the NHL playoff landscape is shaping up to be.
Eastern Conference
Currently, we have 4 Eastern Teams that have punched their tickets to the Stanley Cup Playoffs. The teams in the East are the Hurricanes (104pts), the Lightning (102pts), the Sabres (102pts), and the Canadiens (100pts), with the Penguins and Bruins sitting comfortably in playoff position. The coveted 3rd spot in the Metro Division will ultimately come down to the wire. The Flyers, who currently hold the spot, will need to fend off the Islanders, Red Wings, and Blue Jackets. All 3 of those aforementioned teams sit 2 or fewer points out of that playoff spot. The Senators hold onto the 2nd wildcard spot.
Tonight’s game between the spiraling Red Wings and Blue Jackets will likely be the most consequential. The loser of that one is likely completely out of the NHL playoffs. It would take a miracle otherwise. Neither team has an advantage in Regulation Wins over the Flyers. Meaning, they will need some outside help regardless. The Blue Jackets, red-hot following the hiring of Rick Bowness, currently own a 6-game losing streak, collecting only 1 of 12 possible points in the process. The Red Wings have lost 6 of their last 10 and are coming off a brutal loss against the Wild. It was a game in which they overcame a 3-goal deficit just to watch it evaporate after a dumb penalty. They did not even walk away with a point in front of a home crowd.
The Flyers look to hold onto their NHL playoff spot against the New Jersey Devils. The Flyers have been playing very well lately, winning 7 of their last 10, all in regulation. Philly’s playoff odds, according to Money Puck, sit at 54.2%. That number will likely go up much higher with a win over the Devils tonight and a DET-CBJ game that ends in a regulation win by Detroit.
The Senators will look to keep their dreams of playing the top seed alive while facing a team that could very well become the Lightning’s top seed. The Sens are 6-3-1 in their last 10 and recently defeated the top-seeded Hurricanes 6-3. They also beat the Sabers 4-1 on April 2nd. The Sabres have a very easy schedule after today. So, a win against Tampa could mean they have an easy path to locking up that WC2 spot.
Western Conference
The Western Conference truly is a story of 2 Divisions. The Central has been essentially locked in place since the Olympics. The standings reflect Avalanche (110 pts), Stars (102 pts), Wild (100 pts), and Mammoth (86 pts). It’s been that way for the majority of the second half of the season. Meanwhile, the Pacific has been a pillow fight between mostly teams with losing records. The Colorado Avalanche are the team to beat, recently shutting out the Dallas Stars 2-0 and essentially securing the President’s Trophy. (You can read my breakdown of that game on my Substack.) The 1st round is shaping up to be a bloodbath between two of the league’s best teams in the Stars and Wild, oddly giving the Mammoth a much easier path to the Conference Finals than 2 teams that finished with over 100 points, but I digress.
The Vegas Golden Knights look to overtake 1st place in the Pacific with a win against Vancouver and the help of losses from Edmonton and Anaheim. The Predators (1 point back of LA) will be playing Anaheim in what will undoubtedly be a “win or go home” game for Nashville. The Oilers will play Utah, which, in my opinion, is a better team this year. The Knights will have to get their must-win against the weakest opponent to leapfrog anybody. They will need Edmonton and Anaheim to lose in regulation as well.
The Sharks will play the Oilers tomorrow on the tail end of a back-to-back for Edmonton. The Sharks are 2 points out with a game in hand against most of their divisional opponents, and will need some help as well to keep their NHL playoff hopes alive and face… Colorado in the 1st round.
The Wild and Stars sit 2 points apart. The team with the higher point total will get home ice in what will most likely be the most anticipated series of the 1st round. The Stars have an insurmountable advantage in Regulation Wins over the Wild. The Wild will need more than a tie to overtake the Stars and gain home ice. Both playoff teams tonight have been eliminated. They play each other next on April 9th in Dallas, in what could be an electric playoff preview.
The NHL playoffs are literally just a couple of weeks away, everyone, and I will be here to guide you through series previews, reviews, end-of-season news, and major happenings in the world of the NHL all year long. As we tie up the remaining loose ends of the playoff seedings, I will make sure to do a nice write-up of all the impending playoff series and share all my “expert” knowledge heading into the most electric playoffs in North American sports. Until then, thank you for reading. I will see you all in a few days
