{"id":588912,"date":"2026-04-17T02:32:08","date_gmt":"2026-04-17T02:32:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/588912\/"},"modified":"2026-04-17T02:32:08","modified_gmt":"2026-04-17T02:32:08","slug":"devils-hire-panthers-exec-sunny-mehta-as-general-manager","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/588912\/","title":{"rendered":"Devils hire Panthers exec Sunny Mehta as general manager"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The <a data-clubhouse-guid=\"beb0cb35-4d9f-a5e8-9e7b-d5ca97e51d93\" href=\"https:\/\/www.espn.com\/nhl\/team\/_\/name\/nj\/new-jersey-devils\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">New Jersey Devils<\/a> hired Sunny Mehta as their general manager Thursday.<\/p>\n<p>Mehta, 48, had worked in the <a data-clubhouse-guid=\"195561c3-b7d9-935e-0623-8f0a00357080\" href=\"https:\/\/www.espn.com\/nhl\/team\/_\/name\/fla\/florida-panthers\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Florida Panthers<\/a>&#8216; front office since 2020 and helped them win the past two Stanley Cups as an assistant general manager and head of analytics.<\/p>\n<p>Mehta, who played high school hockey growing up in New Jersey, broke into the NHL working with the Devils from 2014 to 2018 as the director of hockey analytics. He also has had stints as a professional poker player and derivatives trader.<\/p>\n<p>Editor&#8217;s Picks<a name=\"&amp;lpos=story:editorspicks:inline:1\" href=\"https:\/\/www.espn.com\/nhl\/story\/_\/id\/48475221\/nhl-2026-offseason-schedule-keys-draft-picks-trades-free-agency-cap-space\" class=\"img-link\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/r1643014_1296x1296_1-1.jpg&#038;w=130&#038;h=130&#038;scale=crop&#038;location=center.jpeg\" width=\"65\" height=\"65\"\/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>This is the only move the Devils are expected to make at this time, and Mehta will be in charge of all hockey operations decisions, sources said. The rest of the department and the coaching staff will remain under evaluation, including head coach Sheldon Keefe.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;This is a dream come true for a New Jersey kid, who grew up watching Devils&#8217; practices just 20 minutes away in Totowa,&#8221; Mehta said. &#8220;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.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Mehta replaces Tom Fitzgerald, who was ousted earlier this month after the Devils missed the playoffs. Fitzgerald is a candidate for the <a data-clubhouse-guid=\"d9088081-d43d-e521-3c19-d9b4fc1bc3ba\" href=\"https:\/\/www.espn.com\/nhl\/team\/_\/name\/nsh\/nashville-predators\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Nashville Predators<\/a>&#8216; general manager position.<\/p>\n<p>The Devils have top-end talent, highlighted by <a data-player-guid=\"2f88918b-3298-ca4b-e0c1-7f045469143d\" href=\"https:\/\/www.espn.com\/nhl\/player\/_\/id\/4565222\/jack-hughes\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Jack Hughes<\/a>, brother <a data-player-guid=\"efacab28-5090-30ce-a63b-daba3a20cea7\" href=\"https:\/\/www.espn.com\/nhl\/player\/_\/id\/4874719\/luke-hughes\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Luke Hughes<\/a>, <a data-player-guid=\"9844478c-b603-c2fd-cfd0-0df6affbba73\" href=\"https:\/\/www.espn.com\/nhl\/player\/_\/id\/4268771\/jesper-bratt\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Jesper Bratt<\/a> and <a data-player-guid=\"00cd167e-4502-3100-94f4-73965f940a36\" href=\"https:\/\/www.espn.com\/nhl\/player\/_\/id\/4915344\/simon-nemec\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Simon Nemec<\/a>, plus a big decision to make on whether to offer captain <a data-player-guid=\"ed36fd82-5b3f-0d4b-3a33-254b9f8637c0\" href=\"https:\/\/www.espn.com\/nhl\/player\/_\/id\/4233555\/nico-hischier\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Nico Hischier<\/a> a contract extension. The Devils will have $12.18 million in projected in salary cap space this summer, according to PuckPedia.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The New Jersey Devils hired Sunny Mehta as their general manager Thursday. Mehta, 48, had worked in the&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":588913,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[66],"tags":[385,99],"class_list":["post-588912","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nhl","tag-nhl","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/588912","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=588912"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/588912\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/588913"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=588912"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=588912"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=588912"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}