Notes on quotes from Tom Fitzgerald and Sheldon Keefe

New Jersey's head coach and GM held their year-end availability today. Let's dig into some of the notable comments.

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Tom Fitzgerald and Sheldon Keefe held their year-end media availability today. Let’s dive into a few of the many notable comments and talking points.

Arseniy Gritsyuk

Tom Fitzgerald hinted that the Devils will not be putting all their eggs in the Gritsyuk basket. While he will be given ample opportunity to make an impact on the team, the team isn’t banking on X amount of production but rather treating it as a bonus if he provides it.

Reading the tea leaves, they won’t be throwing Gritsyuk to the wolves and expecting meaningful production with no backup plan.

They know they need more scoring and will be looking to add another piece (or two) so that they’re not sinking or swimming based on how much Gritsyuk is capable of providing the team offensively; and how quickly he can do so.

Jake Allen

Depending on what happens with Ondrej Palat, and whether Luke Hughes ends up signing a long-term deal or a bridge that walks him to a soaring cap, the Devils might not have a lot of money to play with.

Even so, it sounds like they plan on making a concerted effort to keep Jake Allen around.

The Devils wasted years because of their goaltending. Be it underperformance, injuries, a lack of depth, or putting too much on the plate of youngsters, bad netminding really hurt the team for a long time. Killed it, even.

Jacob Markstrom was excellent most of the regular season and in the playoffs while carrying a fairly large workload. That said, it’s important to consider Markstrom turns 36 mid-way through the next season. There’s a lot of mileage on him.

In a perfect world, the team has a known commodity and reliable insurance policy like Jake Allen around. That way the bottom doesn’t fall out if Markstrom goes cold, needs a rest, or suffers another injury.

Allen proved himself to be the perfect partner to spell Markstrom. He ranked 9th in Goals Saved Above Expected and helped the team stay afloat through some rough patches in the year.

If the price is manageable, extending Allen is worthwhile. The Devils will be doing their due diligence, for sure.

Underperformance