Juniors Fitzgerald played for the
Seattle Thunderbirds in the
Western Hockey League (WHL) where he became a physical presence and learned the art of fighting. He stated "When I got into junior I didn't know anything about fighting and the doors just kind of opened to it. We had a pretty tough team and I always played physical when I was young so fighting just became a part of my game." Thanks to his willingness to drop the gloves, Fitzgerald led the Thunderbirds in
penalty minutes twice during his four-year stay (he was second on the team in his other two years) and led the league with 244 penalty minutes for the 2004–05 season. before he was traded to the
Vancouver Canucks for
Francois-Pierre Guenette in August 2007. Thanks to a blue-line opening created by injuries and call-ups, Fitzgerald received more playing time with Vancouver's AHL affiliate the
Manitoba Moose. The additional ice time allowed Fitzgerald to refine his game causing his then coach
Scott Arniel to say "He's had an opportunity to play and play regularly and his game has been very good. He's been very responsible in our end of the rink, he's done a great job of making that first pass and you can see he has confidence because he's playing a lot. I think what he's trying to do is show people that he's more than just a fighter." For the
2010–11 season Carolina changed AHL affiliates. As a member of the
Charlotte Checkers Fitzgerald recorded 8 assists and led the team with 229 PIMs, which also ranked him ninth in the league. After two seasons in the Hurricanes system Fitzgerald left via free agency and signed a one-year deal with the AHL's
Hamilton Bulldogs. Fitzgerald signed with the
Adirondack Phantoms on July 3, 2012. On July 14, 2014, Fitzergald signed abroad on a one-year deal for a player/coach role with the
Braehead Clan of the EIHL in Scotland. After one season he moved to the
Sheffield Steelers, where he was named an assistant captain. He remained with the Steelers for three seasons before returning to the Clan (now known as the Glasgow Clan) for the 2018–19 season, where he captained the team. On May 30, 2019, Fitzgerald was named head coach and director of hockey operations for the Glasgow Clan, retiring him as a player in the process – although he did appear sporadically as injury cover throughout the season. He left his position at the end of the
2019-20 EIHL season. ==Career statistics==