Could the Devils’ hiring of Sunny Mehta change the NHL’s GM landscape?

The New Jersey Devils have made a unique hire to run their hockey operations, and it could lead to a trickle-down effect across the NHL.

On Thursday, the Devils hired former Florida Panthers assistant general manager Sunny Mehta as the team’s new GM. Mehta played a crucial role in helping GM Bill Zito build a two-time Stanley Cup champion in Florida. Not only does he have a sense for what it takes to win, but he knows how to view a team’s performance outside of just the eye test.

A former hockey blogger, Mehta helped build the first full-time analytics workforce in the NHL in his first stint with the Devils from 2014 to 2018.

On Friday’s edition of Daily Faceoff LIVE, Jeff Marek of The Sheet joined Tyler Yaremchuk to discuss how the Devils’ hiring of Mehta could change what teams look for in GMs in the future.

Jeff Marek:  I wonder how much of this is a tipping point. I, I really do. Baseball got to this place that hockey now seems to have arrived at about 20-25 years ago, which is a philosophy changed in baseball, which we’re now starting to see change in hockey. It goes like this: the saying now is no longer when it comes to hiring [GMs]. It’s no longer “Did you play?” but moreover, it’s now “Can you think?” Where once upon a time you had to play, right? Oh, you had to shoot frozen cow patties off the side of the barn in Swift Current or there wasn’t a GM position available for you.

That is now changing. I think the beginning of it was Kyle Dubas in Toronto, and then Eric Tulsky in Carolina, and now Sunny Mehta in New Jersey. I just wonder how much of a tipping point moment this is for other organizations. … The one thing, and you saw this with Sunny’s work in Florida…find small little bets that turn into home runs.

That is so valuable for your organization that you have to have people that think that way and think that way that are in positions of power. NHL teams have had analytics departments for a long time now in the NHL, but as you and our viewers/listeners well know, there are plenty of general managers who’ll read the notes they get every morning, and then it’s right into the garbage pail. “We’re going based on my feel, my gut, and my experience in the NHL.” That’s changing now.

You can watch the full segment and entire episode here…