{"id":556454,"date":"2026-04-20T01:55:10","date_gmt":"2026-04-20T01:55:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/556454\/"},"modified":"2026-04-20T01:55:10","modified_gmt":"2026-04-20T01:55:10","slug":"devils-hire-new-general-manager-a-former-professional-poker-player-3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/556454\/","title":{"rendered":"Devils hire new general manager \u2014a former professional poker player"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Devils are going all in on their pick to lead the team\u2019s front office. <\/p>\n

The team announced Thursday that they hired Sunny Mehta to be their new general manager, with the 47-year-old expected to be formally introduced at the Prudential Center on Tuesday.<\/p>\n

Mehta, who brings over a decade of NHL management experience, was previously a professional poker player, playing in high-stakes Texas hold \u2019em games in the 2000s, and has co-authored two books based on his experience, focusing on different game strategies.<\/p>\n

\"FloridaSunny Mehta and Bryan McCabe of the Panthers celebrate their Stanley Cup victory in Game 7 of the 2024 NHL Stanley Cup Final at Amerant Bank Arena on June 24, 2024 in Sunrise, Fla. Getty Images<\/p>\n

Following his professional poker stint, Mehta, who was raised in Wyckoff, New Jersey, started his NHL front office career with the Devils, spending four seasons in New Jersey (2014-18) as the director of hockey analytics.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is a dream come true for a New Jersey kid, who grew up watching Devils\u2019 practices just 20 minutes away in Totowa,\u201d Mehta said in a statement released by the Devils<\/a>. \u201cAfter meeting with (co-owners) David Blitzer, Josh Harris, Bob Myers, and other members of the organization, I knew this was the place I wanted to be. Thank you to Vinnie Viola, Bill Zito and the entire Florida Panthers organization for a fantastic six years and for the opportunity to take the next step in my professional career.<\/p>\n

\u201cNew 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.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mehta spent the past six seasons as the Panthers\u2019 assistant general manager and director of analytics, helping them construct back-to-back Stanley Cup championship-winning teams.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m thrilled to welcome Sunny and his wife, Nicole, back home to New Jersey,\u201d Blitzer said in a statement. \u201cWe quickly realized this job was in high demand and were incredibly fortunate to meet with many qualified candidates. <\/p>\n

\u201cSunny\u2019s familiarity with our organization and experience with a two-time Stanley Cup-winning team are characteristics that will serve as a foundation for future success. Our expectations are to be a perennial playoff team and compete for the Stanley Cup, and I look forward to Sunny leading us there.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"NewDevils general manager Tom Fitzgerald talks about the hiring of new NHL hockey team head coach Sheldon Keefe (left) during a press conference on May 28, 2024, in Newark. AP<\/p>\n

This decision for the Devils comes just days after they fired general manager Tom Fitzgerald amid a disappointing season, which saw the team finish near the bottom of the Metropolitan division.<\/p>\n

Fitzgerald led New Jersey\u2019s front office since January 2020, and saw the team reach the playoffs twice during his tenure, including their first postseason series win in over a decade with a victory over the Rangers in the 2022-23 season.<\/p>\n

\u201cAfter talking with David Blitzer, it was apparent to everyone that the best course of action is to move on for the benefit of the team,\u201d Fitzgerald said in a statement. \u201cI am incredibly appreciative to David, (co-owner) Josh Harris, and the entire New Jersey Devils organization for being a part of my life for the past decade. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe Devils are fortunate to have a core of great players, vocal and passionate fans, but most importantly, tremendous people who worked with me toward a common goal.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Devils are going all in on their pick to lead the team\u2019s front office. The team announced…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":556455,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5109],"tags":[201,5,576,151,5185,5184,4,62841,43],"class_list":{"0":"post-556454","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-jersey-devils","8":"tag-devils","9":"tag-hockey","10":"tag-new-jersey","11":"tag-new-jersey-devils","12":"tag-newjersey","13":"tag-newjerseydevils","14":"tag-nhl","15":"tag-poker","16":"tag-sports"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/556454","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=556454"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/556454\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/556455"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=556454"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=556454"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=556454"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}