Devils fire Ray Shero as GM

In one of the two news items that were rather large on Sunday for TRS, the New Jersey Devils announced the "mutual parting of the ways" with general manager Ray Shero shortly before their game with the Tampa Bay Lightning.

I watched the game and the Devils notched their second win on consecutive evenings against Eastern Conference powerhouses after a Saturday pasting of Washington on the road, with a 2-1 win over Tampa Bay.

The Devils currently are in last place in the Metropolitan Division and were next to last in both the Eastern Conference and the entire NHL before their pair of victories moved them past Ottawa in the East and Anaheim and Los Angeles overall and after high expectations for the Devils after drafting Jack Hughes, trading for P.K. Subban, importing Nikita Gusev from the KHL and signing Wayne Simmonds as a free agent, the season can be considered nothing but disappointing thus far.
In addition to those disappointments, the Devils suffered through not the slow team start, but a slow start with Taylor Hall on the ice and off the ice as it seemed unlikely that Hall was going to return to the Devils next season by signing an extension and avoiding the free-agent market.

The trade of Taylor Hall to Arizona well before the trade deadline for a return that some wondered about (Not me, as I don't claim to be a hockey prospect expert), but considering by that point that Hall had decided to test the waters and that for all his talent, Hall can be a fragile egg and with one injury, the Devils could have gotten nothing for Hall.
I won't knock Shero for moving Hall so quickly and the returns for rentals in recent times haven't been as bountiful as in the past, but ownership must have wondered with the deadline on its way about Shero's future and decided to have someone else make the decision on deals to accept for rentals Wayne Simmonds, Andy Greene, and Sami Vatanen.

However, the two problems that hurt Ray Shero, in the end, saw one by his own hand and the other was a problem that he could never solve, yet was not one he created.
The decision to hold onto John Hynes as the head coach for longer than he should have allowed sent this season out of control and put it in the no way out position.
I don't think Hynes is a bad coach and he may do a fine job in Nashville, where he has since been hired, but in such a pivotal season for the franchise, Shero could be blamed for not making that decision fast enough to attempt to derail the downward track.
Loyalty can be an admirable thing, but in this case, it was taken too far.

The other problem was in the net, where Shero was hamstrung by the seven-year contract extension that Cory Schneider was signed to by Lou Lamoriello in 2014.
That contract still has two years to go after this season and the Devils have been unable to solve the problem since 2016-17, which is when Schneider's play began to decline and only got worse in each successive season.
It wasn't Shero's fault to inherit the Schneider contract and it wasn't his fault that Schneider's career fell through the ice, but his inability to find anyone to shore the position up and as a result force-feed Mackenzie Blackwood into the lineup is on his plate and was a major reason for the disappointing Shero tenure.

Assistant GM Tom Fitzgerald was named the interim general manager with Martin Brodeur making his first move into the Devils as an advisor on the hockey side.
Fitzgerald moved to the coaching staff earlier this season as the Devils attempted to right the ship under John Hynes and has been mentioned as a potential GM in the league.
As for Brodeur, who knows whether he would be a successful general manager or not, but considering his status as the greatest player in the organization's history, if he wants this job either now, later, or eventually- he will be the people's choice.
Either of the two could have a leg up on the competition for the permanent job if they can do well in their potential returns in those inevitable deadline trades.

When expectations aren't met, changes will be made and the Devils ownership is likely in the middle of missing the playoffs for the fourth time in five seasons, so it makes sense to make the move now and avoid Ray Shero making the decisions for a team that has decided to move on from him.
The question is will the owners make the right choice for the Devils future.
Remember the hire that you make to replace the unsuccessful person is the most important that you can make because if they fail over a five-year term, you have a decade of failure on your hand- That is a mistake that a team in a three-team market simply cannot afford to make.