The New Jersey Devils have hired Sunny Mehta as general manager, the team announced Thursday.
Mehta, 48, is the sixth general manager in New Jersey’s history. He replaces Tom Fitzgerald, who was fired by the Devils last week.
Mehta was also a top candidate for the currently vacant GM position with the Toronto Maple Leafs.
Mehta rejoins New Jersey after six seasons with the Florida Panthers, the last three of which he served as assistant general manager and head of analytics. Prior to being hired by the Panthers, Mehta worked as director of analytics for the Devils between 2014-15 and 2017-18.
“I’m thrilled to welcome Sunny and his wife, Nicole, back home to New Jersey,” Devils’ owner David Blitzer said in a news release. “We quickly realized this job was in high demand and were incredibly fortunate to meet with many qualified candidates. Sunny’s familiarity with our organization and experience with a two-time Stanley Cup-winning team are characteristics that will serve as a foundation for future success. Our expectations are to be a perennial playoff team and compete for the Stanley Cup, and I look forward to Sunny leading us there.”
A native of Wyckoff, N.J., Mehta is considered a hockey analytics pioneer and is one of the most prominent faces of the analytics movement in the NHL. In addition to his work with the Panthers and Devils, he was previously a consultant for the Phoenix Coyotes and Washington Capitals, as well as six MLB teams.
Prior to moving into roles with professional sports teams, Mehta made a living as a jazz musician in New Orleans, as a professional poker player and a derivatives trader at the Chicago Board of Trade. He is the author of two books on poker.
He has a master’s degree in data science from the City University of New York.
“This is a dream come true for a New Jersey kid, who grew up watching Devils practices just 20 minutes away in Totowa,” said Mehta. “After meeting with David Blitzer, Josh Harris, Bob Myers, and other members of the organization, I knew this was the place I wanted to be. Thank you to Vinnie Viola, Bill Zito and the entire Florida Panthers organization for a fantastic six years and for the opportunity to take the next step in my professional career. New Jersey has a tremendous young core that will be looking to get back to being a contender, a complement of young assets and draft picks, and a passionate fan base hungry for success. I was fortunate enough to watch the New Jersey Devils raise three Stanley Cups and am excited to get to work to return to that level.”
Mehta joins a Devils team in transition, as New Jersey has missed the playoffs two of the past three years, including a disappointing 87-point finish this season.
Part of New Jersey’s interest in bringing Mehta back stemmed from his previous success with the organization. In his first stint with the Devils, Mehta was partly responsible for landing Jesper Bratt when they selected him in the sixth round of the 2016 NHL draft. As reported in a story last year, he created a statistical model that ranked players before the draft.
That model’s final rankings, according to a team source, put Auston Matthews as the No. 1 player in the class, Patrik Laine at No. 2 and Bratt at No. 3. Mehta was skeptical about that high a ranking, but after New Jersey took Michael McLeod in the first round and Nathan Bastian in the second, he started pushing hard for Bratt.
The Devils then selected him at No. 162, and he blossomed into one of their top players, including five consecutive 70-point seasons.
