The New Jersey Devils are unsure which direction they want to go at this point
Daily Faceoff: Emily Kaplan, on a couple of New Jersey Devils GM candidates, and how they may not be sure if they’re hiring just a GM, or if they’re hiring a GM and a president of hockey ops. Do they want to spend the money on two people?
“In New Jersey, the sense I get is they’re starting their interviews this week. They’re all doing it in house with Harris Blitz. They’ve got some interesting people in that committee, right? Like Bob Myers, the former Warriors GM, he’s part of that ownership group now. Like he, I think, is going to be a part of this process.
It sounds like Brendan Shanahan; everyone was trying to make that the narrative, and I definitely think there was some interest there. The only thing I was told last week is like, it is far from a done deal. Like, I just think that maybe they were far apart. Perhaps it was money.
Like, I think this is an ownership group that would be willing to spend, but if it makes sense. And if you’re hiring Brendan Shanahan, that means you’re also hiring a GM as well. Like, I think they’re going external, like they didn’t give anyone the interim GM title, and then you’re making two hires, right? Like you’re paying Shanahan a ton of money, then somebody else.
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So I’ve heard that they like Sunny Mehta, obviously, he has history there. John Chayka, I think, has an in with this ownership group. You know, they were interested in him in the past.
But if you have either of those guys, like, you’d think, Colby, to your point, they’d want some kind of President of Hockey Op that could speak to the Hughes family and kind of manage them and make sure Jack’s happy and make sure that he’s finding the right path. (He) could speak to the fans. Just all of those different things that you know aren’t the day-to-day.
So I’m curious to see, because I heard that they’re not wet on to structure either, of like, whether it’s one position, two positions. (Tom Fitzgerald) obviously held both. It’ll be really interesting to see who they come up with you.
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