The New Jersey Devils landed their first choice in Sunny Mehta as their new general manager. It was clear that Devils ownership made sure he didn’t leave the building without a contract. Thursday night, they secured that deal. As Elliotte Friedman told Kyle Bukauskas on the Friday edition of 32 Thoughts Podcast, Sunny Mehta was their guy from the start and made sure no one else got him.
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Kyle Bukauskas: “But Friedge, we begin in New Jersey. News: Thursday night, Sunny Mehta has been hired as the General Manager. Someone who has worked in the organization in the past, a name that had been out there more frequently the last number of weeks with openings in New Jersey and Toronto. The popularity and the success, of course, that he had along with the Panthers over the last number of years. So it was no secret that the Devils were interested in this man. Elliotte, how did this one get over the finish line?”
Elliotte Friedman: “Earlier this week, Matt Marchese asked me on his show with Mike Futa, which of these openings I thought was going to go down first. And I really felt it was New Jersey. I just didn’t know that it would be this quick. But I had a feeling it was going to be them first.
Because one of the things that was kind of making its way around the NHL was that Tom Fitzgerald had asked the Devils for clarity on his future, because if they were going to let him go, I think he wanted the opportunity to interview in Nashville, where he was the first captain, at least, for that job.
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And I don’t believe that the Devils were going to do that, I think it was their goal to have the season finish and then make any decision that they were going to make. Instead. What happened was, a couple of Saturdays ago, we mentioned on Hockey Night, on the headline segment, that Toronto had interest in Sunny Mehta, and they definitely did. And two days later, they announced that Tom Fitzgerald wouldn’t be returning and that they had an open search.
I don’t think those two things are a coincidence. Mehta was going to be a candidate in Toronto. The Maple Leafs were interested, and the Devils wanted to have him back. And, I think what happened there is that the Devils were looking at Mehta. They were looking at John Chayka. And New Jersey didn’t want to miss. They really liked the idea of the local guy, who I think was his first choice.
I think New Jersey was Mehta’s first choice, and the Devils looked up, and they said, “We’ve got this guy who knows us. We’ve got this guy who we want. We’re not taking any chances here, and we’re getting this done.’
As I’d mentioned, I thought they might have interest in Jamie Langenbrunner. I don’t even know if they interviewed him, and I think a lot of us thought they would have an interest in Brendan Shanahan. I don’t even know if that went anywhere, either.
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And they have a guy there who kind of leads the sports operations of their organization, Bob Myers, who’s the former General Manager of the Golden State Warriors. He was the GM when they won all those championships and lost to the Toronto Raptors, we should mention Raptors, 2019 NBA champions.
But he was a very successful executive there. And I did have some people who wondered if the Devils would go down the Shanahan route, because they already have Myers and kind of like that, overseeing a role. They weren’t sure if that was a fit. Anyway, we’ll never know, because the moment, I think, they realized that Toronto had interest in Mehta, and had asked for permission to speak to Mehta and received it, they just weren’t going to let that happen.
They just, they were just going to stop and say, ‘Nope, we’re getting this done. This is our guy, and we’re getting this done.’ And I think he was the kind of candidate they were looking at.
And I’ll tell you something else, too. One thing about the Devils is, apparently, they pay very well. So I’m sure that they did that here too and got things done.”
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