Devils Notes: Fletcher, Greene, Legace, Sanderson, Fitzgerald

The Devils announced multiple front-office hirings today, leading off with former Flyers general manager Chuck Fletcher being named as a senior advisor to GM Tom Fitzgerald.

It’s the first NHL role for Fletcher since he was fired from his post in Philadelphia in March 2023. The 57-year-old has worked with the Devils before, briefly serving as a senior advisor to ex-GM Ray Shero for the first few months of the 2018-19 campaign before he was named GM of the Flyers. Before that, the longtime executive has served as GM of the Wild (2009-2018), assistant GM for the Penguins (2006-2009), assistant GM for the Ducks (2002-2006), and assistant and interim GM for the Panthers (1993-2002).

Fletcher will advise Fitzgerald “on hockey operations matters including player personnel, scouting, and contracts,” the team said. Fletcher was in the front office during Fitzgerald’s time as a player in Florida from 1993 to 1998. The pair also worked together in Pittsburgh for Fletcher’s last two seasons there while Fitzgerald served as their director of player development.

More on the Devils’ hirings today:

• Former captain Andy Greene is returning to the organization as a hockey operations advisor. The 41-year-old has been without an official title for two years after retiring following the 2021-22 season, but the team said he’s been around the game “attending Devils’ practices, working with the coaching staff and scouting minor-league, college games, and Devils’ prospects.” Greene played over 900 games for the Devils from 2007 to 2020 before being dealt to the Islanders, where he played out the final two and a half seasons of his career. He’ll now work with both Fitzgerald and the hockey operations department at large while “working with the scouting and player personnel departments, coaching staff, and pro and amateur scouting staffs,” per the team.
• Longtime NHL netminder Manny Legace is also joining New Jersey as their head amateur goaltending scout and development coach, working alongside former rival Martin Brodeur. The 51-year-old previously served as the Blue Jackets’ goaltending coach from 2018 to 2023. He was the backup for the Red Wings when they won the Stanley Cup in 2002 and posted a 187-99-41 record, 2.41 GAA and .912 SV% in 365 career games with Detroit, St. Louis, Los Angeles and Carolina. He’ll “work with all the goaltenders in the Devils system and serve in a scouting capacity for draft-eligible prospects,” the Devils said.
• Among the Devils’ more minor hires today is Geoff Sanderson, who joins as a pro scout. The 52-year-old played over 1,100 NHL games as part of a 17-year career that spanned seven franchises between 1990 and 2008, but his front office résumé is mostly empty aside from a two-year stint as a development coach with the Islanders in the early 2010s.
• Lastly, there’s a Fitzgerald family reunion to cover. Ryan Fitzgerald, Tom’s 29-year-old son, is joining as a college scout. The news marks the end of his playing career. Fitzgerald was a fourth-round pick of the Bruins back in 2013 and signed with them coming out of Boston College four years later, but he was never able to crack the NHL roster. He played in parts of eight AHL seasons with Providence, Lehigh Valley and the Devils’ affiliate in Utica, where he had two points in 22 games last season. Injuries limited him to just 39 games combined over the past three seasons.