Rumor: Reason why Devils fired GM, Ray Shero revealed

When the Devils fired Ray Shero earlier this week, it sent shockwaves throughout the league. Hockey executives were completely thrown off while hockey insiders were trying to piece together the crazy puzzle that went up in flames. Some new details have emerged on why the axe was dropped on Shero's job.

After four-plus years under the helm, Shero only managed to make the playoffs once. Shero made a slew of moves this offseason as he felt his team was close to breaking through and the likes of PK Subban and Wayne Simmonds could get the team over the hump, especially with #1 pick, Jack Hughes joining the team as well. As we all know, that wasn't the case at all.

However, it wasn't the offseason deals, it wasn't the firing of head coach, John Hynes, the biggest question mark that made owner, John Harris shake his head, was the Taylor Hall trade.

The ownership group wanted a hockey trade to take place for Hall and earlier on in the season so the team had a chance to add a couple of NHL-ready bodies to the fold and carry on without this being a lost season, and the complete opposite happened. The trade was done almost two months later than the ownership group wanted, and the deal ended up being all for futures. After Shero sold the owners to open their cheque book up in the offseason, his moves were contradicting the vision of the team, and hence, he's looking for work.

There was talks the Calgary Flames offered two NHL roster players for Hall, and so did the St Louis Blues, however, Shero decided due to where the team was in the standings, the Coyotes deal would be best suited for a re-build.

Only problem was, Shero's boss has no intentions of another rebuild and felt he made the wrong trade. The firing was kept quiet in Jersey, as even assistant-GM, Tom Fitzgerald was caught off guard by the news and had to speak to the leadership group the day it happened, not being given any information on the exact cause. It was a tough position for Fitzgerald and something he admitted was a whirlwind couple of days.

The Devils are looking to move their upcoming UFA's so keep an eye on them to make some trades in the coming couple of weeks. Meanwhile, Ray Shero won't be out of a job long, but let's hope next time he can stay on the same page as his ownership group, or else he's going to find himself back to square one.