Hours before he was slated to begin his introductory media availability, Sunny Mehta stood in the main concourse of the Prudential Center in a crisp suit, conversing with New Jersey Devils forward Connor Brown.
Part of their conversation revolved around New Jersey becoming a destination in the NHL.
“It is funny” Mehta said. “Florida got a lot of ink for warm weather and low taxes and all that, and I look at New Jersey, and I am just like, this is a place to be a destination franchise. One thing I think a lot of people don’t think about is travel. We have three teams that we play multiple times a year that are a bus ride. We have got seven or eight teams that we play that are less than an hour flight.
“That’s all time that players get to spend time with their families because they are not traveling,” he continued. “Nights that they are coming home and sleeping in their own bed whereas other cities where you have much worse travel, they are out in hotels and spending far less time with their families.“
Kristy Flannery The Hockey News Mehta then sat alongside Devils’ Managing Partner David Blitzer for roughly 37 minutes fielding questions from the local media in front of members of the Devils senior leadership team, hockey operations department and several of his players including, Nico Hischier, Jack Hughes, Brown, Jake Allen, Brenden Dillon, Stefan Noesen, and Johnny Kovacevic.
From his Devils fandom, poker analogies, and confirmation that it is, in fact, Taylor Ham, the 48-year-old Wyckoff, New Jersey native showcased a perfect hand in his first appearance as Devils general manager.
Before accepting his current role in New Jersey, Mehta spent six seasons with the Florida Panthers, and the last three serving as assistant general manager and head of analytics. He originally joined the Panthers in 2020 as vice president of hockey strategy & intelligence, and was a key part of the Florida management group that helped deliver back-to-back Stanley Cups in 2024 and 2025. While with Florida, he collaborated with the management and coaching staff on amateur player and free agent evaluation, trade deadline opportunities, and roster decisions.
Key members of those Panthers teams include defenseman Gustav Forsling, who Florida claimed off waivers, free agent signing Carter Verhaeghe, and, Sam Bennett who was acquired in a trade with the Calgary Flames with a sixth-round draft pick in the 2022 NHL Draft for Emil Heineman and a second-round pick in the 2022 NHL Draft.
Mehta explained that finding undervalued attributes in players is part of his philosophy.
“Connor McDavid was drafted first overall,” he said to The Hockey News after his media availability. “You are not going find Connor McDavid, but I think that you can use a combination of resources, be it data, scouting, etc, to find undervalued players. That is what we did in Florida. It made us successful, and listen that is always my philosophy.”
When asked specifically about Forsling, Mehta was the first to admit that no one in Florida’s front office expected the defenseman to turn into the player he has become.
“I think anybody would be fibbing if they knew that he would turn into this good of a player,” he said. "To say that we knew would be inaccurate. That does not just go for Forsling, but also for Verhaeghe, Reinhart, and Bennett.
“With all of those guys, I think in those situations, it is a group effort,” he continued. “Honestly, it wasn't just me. It wasn't me. It wasn't one person. It was a group effort between the data, the scouting, the culture, the coaches, everything and thinking through all of that.”
With his extensive poker background, it was no surprise that it all comes down to bets and odds.
“I think of them almost as being bets,” Mehta explained. “We thought they were good bets. We thought there were bets that had upside. We didn't know that they were going to reach the potential that they did, but thought that the odds were good, and we thought that the odds were better than the price that we were paying.”
Devils fans can expect that same philosophy to take effect once Mehta concludes his evaluations and devises a plan of action for a critical offseason in the franchise’s history. And if he can find a Bennett or Verhaeghe to compliment a group he is already optimistic about, the Devils will be in good shape.
"I really, truly believe these talented players are about to hit an inflection point and get over that hurdle,” he said. “It is my job to make sure this roster is consistently flush with the right amount of talent to be a championship team, and I intend to do that.”
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