Greg WyshynskiOct 15, 2026, 08:00 AM ETCloseGreg Wyshynski is ESPN’s senior NHL writer.Multiple AuthorsOpen Extended ReactionsNEWARK, NJ — “Do you still think I shouldn’t be the general manager of this team?”I’m sitting in a lounge at the Prudential Center across from Sunny Mehta, who was hired as the general manager of the New Jersey Devils, despite my apparent protestations. I didn’t recall holding this particular opinion, but a quick search revealed a podcast interview where I fully endorsed his candidacy for the team’s vacancy — provided he had an experienced executive working above him with the Devils.”I wouldn’t want him to, like, run the whole show,” I said at the time.And now Sunny Mehta is running the whole show … and taking some measure of satisfaction watching me squirm while singed by my own hot take.I’ve known Sunny for a bit now. His first podcast interview was on the old “ESPN On Ice” show with me and Emily Kaplan. I should have known this gotcha moment was coming, because when you sit down at a table with Sunny Mehta you assume he’s going to be systematically prepared in ways that you are not.Mehta, 48, is the latest in a wave of NHL general managers with roots in the analytics movement and taking non-traditional paths to their front office jobs.
Eric Tulsky, the movement’s standard-bearer, built a Stanley Cup winner in Carolina 20 years after analyzing the synthesis of cadmium-free nanocrystals for clinical applications as a scientist for a nanotech company in Washington state.Like Tulsky, Mehta has an untypical background. While other current GMs were inhaling Zamboni fumes at the rink, Mehta was a derivatives trader in Chicago and a professional poker player, having authored two books on card-playing strategy. Like Tulsky, he entered the NHL first as a data consultant and then as an analytics director, before becoming an assistant general manager. Mehta won the Stanley Cup twice in that capacity with the Florida Panthers before replacing Tom Fitzgerald as Devils general manager this year.But he also shares something else with Tulsky: He’s a hockey fan living the dream.
Tulsky first caught the hockey bug as a commenter on Philadelphia Flyers blogs. Mehta is a lifelong Devils fan who now runs the Devils. The kind of kid who would rock a red-and-black Starter jacket while sitting in the Meadowlands stands, cheering on someone nicknamed “The Little Ball of Hate.”As a young Devils fan, Mehta loved Pat Verbeek, and still remembers the exhilaration of his 46-goal season in 1987-88, then a Devils record. Verbeek went from NHL player to NHL general manager.
Mehta went from NHL fan to Verbeek’s peer.”I remember talking to Verbeek when I was an AGM in Florida about that 46-goal season. He was like, ‘I f—ing got hurt at the end. I would’ve had more!’ It was really funny,” Mehta said. “I obviously talk to Pat in a different capacity now, but I still kind of break his balls about it.”Verbeek played 1,424 games in the NHL.
He’s one of 13 current general managers that have played at least 500 NHL games. Other managers are longtime player agents (Bill Zito, Kent Hughes), descendants of hockey royalty (Stan Bowman, Chris Patrick) or have worked in NHL front offices since the 1990s (Don Waddell, Ken Holland).Was there ever any concern for Mehta that these hockey lifers might not talk to him the way they talk to each other? He acknowledged it’s been an apprehension for others. “Maybe even owners, at certain points,” he said.But Mehta said he was never concerned, personally.”I think the thing that people forget is when you’re the GM, people have to call you because they want your players.
They want to trade with you. It’d be stupid for them to not call you. It’d be stupid for them to not try to get along with you, to not be nice to you,” he said. “Agents are looking for your money, so they want you to sign their players.
It was super easy to forge a ton of new friendships and relationships.”Took the fit and made it executive. #NJDevils | @SunnyMehtaX https://t.co/QfxlS02X1v— New Jersey Devils (@NJDevils) April 21, 2026 While working for the Panthers, Mehta had a window into the interactions between GMs and agents. He took part in trade discussions, but now gets to engage in trade negotiations. Which made me curious: How does a former poker pro read opponents when trying to win a trade?”I think the poker part of it is more the pre-negotiation part, thinking through all the probability and the strategy. But when I first started talking to other GMs, I was probably the least ‘poker’ in the sense that I just called guys and I was like, ‘Here’s who I like.’ I kind of just think being transparent and trying to be as direct as possible is a better policy than trying to be too clever and bluffing,” he said.
“Instead of treating them as an adversary, treat them as a partner. You’re going to get more bees with honey than vinegar, you know what I mean?”There’s also a strategy in managing internal relationships. Despite his affinity for the team, Mehta is an outsider to these Devils. He has history with some players — forward Evan Rodrigues, for example, who was acquired from Florida when Mehta flipped goalie Jacob Markstrom to the Panthers — but not the majority.
He enters a situation with some complicated power dynamics behind the scenes, coupled with a lack of playoff success on the ice.What’s it like being a new general manager trying to understand those dynamics?”Oh God, what’s that show?” asked Mehta. “The second season took place in Italy. It had Stiffler’s mom in it.”HBO’s “The White Lotus,” perhaps?”Yeah. ‘White Lotus,'” he said.”I only watched the first season, but I felt like that was a show where there’s literally no good guys and no bad guys. Every character is kind of flawed, but also has some endearing qualities,” Mehta said.
“It’s a weird analogy, but instead of looking at [the team] in terms of who the good guys are and who I can trust, you just think about how every party has their own perspective. No one’s the good guy. No one’s wrong. Just hear everybody out, hear all sides of the story.
The truth is somewhere in between.”On “White Lotus,” you eventually find out who the murderer is.”But there’s no murderer!” he said of the Devils. “That’s what I’m saying. There is no murderer.”After gathering information on his new team, Mehta made three quick decisions. He traded disgruntled restricted free agent defenseman Simon Nemec — the No. 2 overall pick in 2022 — to Calgary.
He vowed to the veterans on his roster with trade protection that he’d honor it, a list that included 33-year-old defenseman Dougie Hamilton, who has a full no-movement clause, two more seasons at $9 million against the cap and saw his name swirl in trade rumors under Fitzgerald.”I do have a lot of respect for Dougie’s game. I hope he crushes it this year,” Mehta said.His most significant decision was trading Markstrom, the team’s starting goaltender for the last two seasons. That left the Devils in the hands of Jake Allen and Nico Daws, a cost-efficient but uninspiring tandem that left fans wondering if, yet again, the team would be subverted by its goaltending.Mehta’s approach to his netminding was, perhaps, his most scrutinized philosophy so far as general manager. He made waves in an NHL.com interview when he said, “I’m reluctant to invest significant assets there instead of in areas where the results may be more predictable.”Mehta didn’t quite understand the pushback.”I think a lot of opinions I’ve expressed about goaltending are turned into single quote memes or headlines. ‘Oh, he doesn’t care about goaltending’ or something like that,” he said.
Mehta said that’s a misconception. It’s just that it’s a position marinated in uncertainty in comparison to others.”Even if we went out and got whoever you think is the best goaltender, the probability of that person actually performing as the best goaltender results-wise next year is far lower than if you took a bet
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