New Jersey Devils part ways with general manager Ray Shero out of nowhere
Ray Shero is out as the general manager of the New Jersey Devils, as their mess of a season continues to get even stranger.
What a strange season it’s been for the New Jersey Devils, and the saga continues.
The Devils dropped a bomb on Sunday afternoon, as the team announced that general manager Ray Shero and the organization have agreed to part ways after four seasons. They also announced that Tom Fitzgerald will serve as interim general manager with Martin Brodeur named as an advisor.
Ray Shero is out as the Devils GM, chairman and managing partner Josh Harris announces. Tom Fitzgerald is the interim GM and Martin Brodeur will help as an advisor in hockey operations. pic.twitter.com/r5whqn4JJR
— Dan Rosen (@drosennhl) January 12, 2020
The Devils had a raised expectations on them this season but have disappointed immensely, which has already led to massive turnover. Former head coach John Hynes was fired in December and was replaced by Alain Nasreddine. Taylor Hall was traded later that month in a move that signaled that the Devils were done trying to compete this season. Now, the general manager who made all those moves is also gone. As of the time of the dismissal, the Devils are well out of the playoffs with 39 points, and 28th overall in the league.
What’s unusual about this move is that Shero wasn’t fired, but rather both he and the organization agreed that it was time to move on. Clearly there’s something more to this move than the Devils being disappointing this season. Did Shero and the organization not agree on how to move forward in the future, or is there something more to this?
The timing of this move is also quite strange. This move comes less than 24 hours after the Devils dominated the league leading Washington Capitals with a 5-1 win on the road, and mere hours before a matchup with the Tampa Bay Lightning.
Shero’s legacy in New Jersey will be quite a strange one to look back on. He was gifted Hall from the Oilers for basically nothing in 2016, and rode Hall’s MVP season to the playoffs in 2017-18. After Hall missed most of the 2018-19 season, the Devils missed the playoffs, but spent most of the 2019 offseason building a team that could get back there.
Last offseason was a busy one for Shero, as the Devils got the first overall pick and drafted potential franchise corner stone Jack Hughes, traded for former Norris winner PK Subban, KHL star Nikita Gusev, and signed Wayne Simmonds to round out the depth. Obviously, that has not worked that season, which led to the Hall trade that continued the rebuild.
Shero and the Devils clearly had a vision for how they wanted this season to go, but they have come nowhere close. There’s little hope for a turn around, but the disconnect has become apparent. This is as low as the Devils can get, so maybe things turn around for the better from here on out.
Next. Logan Couture’s injury ends the San Jose Sharks season. dark
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