The New Jersey Devils received their first pick in Sunny Mehta as their new general manager. It was clear that Devils ownership was making sure he didn't leave the building without a contract. On Thursday night, they got that deal. As Elliotte Friedman told Kyle Bukauskas on Friday's 32 Thoughts Podcast, Sunny Mehta was their guy from the start and he made sure no one else found him.
Writing for NHLRumors.com
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Kyle Bukauskas: “But Friedge, we're starting in New Jersey.” News: On Thursday night, Sunny Mehta was hired as General Manager. Someone who has worked for this organization in the past, a name that has been around a lot in the past weeks with vacancies in New Jersey and Toronto. The fame and success, of course, he had with the Panthers over the years that the Devils were not interested in this last number. Elliotte, how did you cross the finish line?”
Elliotte Friedman: “Earlier this week, Matt Marchese asked me on his show with Mike Futa, which of these holes I thought would go down first. And I really felt it was New Jersey. I just didn't know it was going to be this fast. But I had a feeling it was going to be them first.
Because one of the best things about the NHL was that Tom Fitzgerald had asked the Devils to be clear about his future, because if they were going to let him go, I think he wanted an opportunity to negotiate in Nashville, where he was the first captain, at least, in that job.
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And I don't believe the Devils were going to do that, I think it was their intention to finish the season and make whatever decision they were going to make. Rather. What happened was, a couple of Saturdays ago, we mentioned on Hockey Night, in part of the article, that Toronto was interested in Sunny Mehta, and they really did. And two days later, they announced that Tom Fitzgerald was not coming back and they had an open search.
I don't think those two things coincided. Mehta would be a candidate in Toronto. The Maple Leafs were interested, and the Devils wanted to bring him back. And, I think what happened there was that the Devils were looking at Mehta. They were looking for John Chayka. And New Jersey didn't want to miss out. They really like the idea of a local boy, which I think was his first choice.
I think New Jersey was Mehta's first choice, and the Devils looked up, and said, “We've got this guy that you know. We've got this guy that we want. We're not taking any chances here, and we're doing this.'
Like I said, I thought they might be interested in Jamie Langenbrunner. I don't know if they interviewed him, and I think a lot of us thought they might be interested in Brendan Shanahan. I don't know if that went anywhere.
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And they have a guy there running their organization, Bob Myers, 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 have to mention the Raptors, the 2019 NBA champions.
But he was a very successful officer there. And I had some people wondering if the Devils were going to go down the Shanahan route, because they already have Myers and that kind of, dominating role. They weren't sure if that was enough. Anyway, we'll never know, because for a moment, I think, they realized that Toronto was interested in Mehta, and they had asked permission to talk to Mehta and they got it, they just couldn't let that happen.
They just, they would just stop and say, 'No, we're doing this. This is our guy, and we're doing this.' And I think he was the type of candidate they were looking for.
And I'll tell you something else, too. One thing about the Devils, apparently, they pay very well. So I'm sure they do that here and they do.”
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