Tom Fitzgerald

Tom Fitzgerald
Date of birth	August 28, 1968
place of birth	Billerica , Massachusetts , USA
size	183 cm
Weight	88 kg
position	Right wing
Shot hand	Right
Draft
NHL Entry Draft	1986 , 1st round, 17th position New York Islanders
Career stations
1986-1988	Providence College
1988-1993	New York Islanders
1993-1998	Florida panthers
1998	Colorado Avalanche
1998-2002	Nashville Predators
2002	Chicago Blackhawks
2002-2004	Toronto Maple Leafs
2004-2006	Boston Bruins

Thomas James "Tom" Fitzgerald (born August 28, 1968 in Billerica , Massachusetts ) is a former American ice hockey player and current - functional , who during his playing career between 1986 and 2006, among other things, 1175 games for the New York Islanders , Florida Panthers , Colorado Avalanche , Nashville Predators , Chicago Blackhawks , Toronto Maple Leafs and Boston Bruins in the National Hockey League as the right winger . Since January 2020 he has been the general manager of the New Jersey Devils from the NHL.

Career

Fitzgerald immediately moved to Providence College after his time in high school to pursue a degree. In parallel, he played between 1986 and 1988 for the university's ice hockey team in Hockey East , a division of the National Collegiate Athletic Association . After he was selected in the 1986 NHL Entry Draft in 17th overall position by the New York Islanders , he joined them in the summer of 1988. In the first three seasons until 1991, the attacker's missions were divided between the Islanders and their farm teams in the American Hockey League - mainly the Springfield Indians . With the Indians, Fitzgerald won the Calder Cup at the end of the 1989/90 season . For the 1991/92 season , the striker finally made his breakthrough with the Islanders and was part of the regular squad until the summer of 1993.

Fitzgerald's time in New York came to an abrupt end with the 1993 NHL Expansion Draft , as he was selected by the Florida Panthers expansion franchise and stayed with them for the next five years. This included moving into the final of the Stanley Cup in the 1995/96 season . With 34 scorer points, this was also the personally most successful for the right winger. Towards the end of the 1997/98 season , the Panthers parted ways with their striker and gave him to the Colorado Avalanche , who were looking for an experienced player for the back row for the play-offs . In return, Mark Parrish moved to Florida with a third-round vote in the 1998 NHL Entry Draft . The Colorado Avalanche was only an 18-game interlude for the striker, as they did not renew his contract.

As a free agent , the Nashville Predators secured the services of the American. The newly formed franchise immediately named the seasoned attacker the first team captain in their history. Fitzgerald held this position for almost four years until March 2002, when he was transferred again to a team with play-off ambitions with the contract expiring. As compensation, Nashville received a four-round vote in the 2002 NHL Entry Draft from the Chicago Blackhawks , for which the wing attacker went on the ice in 20 games by the end of the season.

In the summer of 2002 he moved again for two years on a free agent basis to the Toronto Maple Leafs , followed by another two seasons - one of which fell victim to the NHL lockout in the 2004/05 season - with the Boston Bruins . On September 12, 2006, Fitzgerald finally announced the end of his 20-year career as an active player.

For the 2007/08 season Fitzgerald was included in the management of the Pittsburgh Penguins from the NHL. Until 2008 he was Director of Player Development and during this time he won the Stanley Cup with the team . Before the 2009/10 season , the American was promoted to assistant to then General Manager Ray Shero . He also held this position in the 2014/15 season under the new GM Jim Rutherford after Shero was fired in the summer of 2014. In the summer of 2015, Fitzgerald left the Penguins at his own request to work in the same position - again under Shero - for the New Jersey Devils . At the same time he took over the post of General Manager at their AHL farm team, the Binghamton Devils . When Shero was fired in January 2020, Fitzgerald took over his role on an interim basis.

International

At the international level, Fitzgerald represented his home country at the Junior World Championships in 1987 in Czechoslovakia and the World Championships in Sweden in 1989 and in Finland in 1991 . He couldn't win a medal with any of the selection teams.

Achievements and Awards

• 1990 Calder Cup win with the Springfield Indians
• 2009 Stanley Cup win with the Pittsburgh Penguins (as Director of Player Development)

Career statistics

				Regular season						Playoffs
season	team	league		Sp	T	V	Pt	SM		Sp	T	V	Pt	SM
1986/87	Providence College	Hockey East		27	8th	14th	22nd	22nd
1987/88	Providence College	Hockey East		36	19th	15th	34	50
1988/89	Springfield Indians	AHL		61	24	18th	42	43		-	-	-	-	-
1988/89	New York Islanders	NHL		23	3	5	8th	10		-	-	-	-	-
1989/90	Springfield Indians	AHL		53	30th	23	53	32		14th	2	9	11	13
1989/90	New York Islanders	NHL		19th	2	5	7th	4th		4th	1	0	1	4th
1990/91	Capital District Islanders	AHL		27	7th	7th	14th	50		-	-	-	-	-
1990/91	New York Islanders	NHL		41	5	5	10	24		-	-	-	-	-
1991/92	Capital District Islanders	AHL		4th	1	1	2	4th		-	-	-	-	-
1991/92	New York Islanders	NHL		45	6th	11	17th	28		-	-	-	-	-
1992/93	New York Islanders	NHL		77	9	18th	27	34		18th	2	5	7th	18th
1993/94	Florida panthers	NHL		83	18th	14th	32	54		-	-	-	-	-
1994/95	Florida panthers	NHL		48	3	13	16	31		-	-	-	-	-
1995/96	Florida panthers	NHL		82	13	21st	34	75		22nd	4th	4th	8th	34
1996/97	Florida panthers	NHL		71	10	14th	24	64		5	0	1	1	0
1997/98	Florida panthers	NHL		69	10	5	15th	57		-	-	-	-	-
1997/98	Colorado Avalanche	NHL		11	2	1	3	22nd		7th	0	1	1	20th
1998/99	Nashville Predators	NHL		80	13	19th	32	48		-	-	-	-	-
1999/00	Nashville Predators	NHL		82	13	9	22nd	66		-	-	-	-	-
2000/01	Nashville Predators	NHL		82	9	9	18th	71		-	-	-	-	-
2001/02	Nashville Predators	NHL		63	7th	9	16	33		-	-	-	-	-
2001/02	Chicago Blackhawks	NHL		15th	1	3	4th	6th		5	0	0	0	4th
2002/03	Toronto Maple Leafs	NHL		66	4th	13	17th	57		7th	0	1	1	4th
2003/04	Toronto Maple Leafs	NHL		69	7th	10	17th	52		10	0	0	0	6th
2004/05	Boston Bruins	NHL		not played because of lockout
2005/06	Boston Bruins	NHL		71	4th	6th	10	40	-	-	-	-	-
Hockey East overall				63	27	29	56	72
AHL total				145	62	49	111	129	14th	2	9	11	13
NHL overall				1097	139	190	329	776	78	7th	12	19th	90

International

Represented the USA at:

• Junior World Championship 1987
• World Championship 1989
• World Championship 1991

year	team	event	result		Sp	T	V	Pt	SM
1987	United States	June World Cup	4th Place		7th	3	0	3	2
1989	United States	WM	6th place		10	0	2	2	12
1991	United States	WM	4th Place		10	1	0	1	6th
Juniors overall					7th	3	0	3	2
Seniors total					20th	1	2	3	18th

( Legend for player statistics: Sp or GP = games played; T or G = goals scored; V or A = assists scored ; Pkt or Pts = scorer points scored ; SM or PIM = penalty minutes received ; +/− = plus / minus balance; PP = overpaid goals scored ; SH = underpaid goals scored ; GW = winning goals scored; ¹  play-downs / relegation )

family

Fitzgerald's sons Ryan (* 1994) and Casey (* 1997) are also ice hockey players and are aiming for a professional career. They were each selected in an NHL Entry Draft - Ryan in the NHL Entry Draft 2013 in the fourth round in 120th place by the Boston Bruins , Casey in the NHL Entry Draft 2016 in the third round in 86th position by the Buffalo Sabers . His brother Scott also works as a scout for the Boston Bruins .

In addition, Keith Tkachuk , his son Matthew Tkachuk and the brothers Jimmy Hayes and Kevin Hayes - all also professional ice hockey players - are cousins of Fitzgerald.

Web links

• Tom Fitzgerald at legendsofhockey.net (English)
• Tom Fitzgerald at eliteprospects.com (English)
• Tom Fitzgerald at hockeydb.com (English)