Maple Leafs and Devils Given Permission to Talk to Sunny Mehta for GM Job

Per Pierre Lebrun, the Toronto Maple Leafs have been granted permission to speak with Florida Panthers assistant General Manager Sunny Mehta. The New Jersey Devils have been granted the same permission. LeBrun writes in a recent article for The Athletic that there is interest in Mehta, “whose name has been all the rage of late, especially in the Toronto market.”

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Mehta is the head of analytics for the defending Stanley Cup champions. He adds, “his background fits a big part of the profile for both the Devils and Leafs.”

Elliotte Friedman said on the 32 Thoughts podcast that he heard from a few different people that the Maple Leafs’ interest in Sunny Mehta is real. That they have sought permission to interview him proves that to be the case. Now with two teams calling and trying to see if he would be a good fit, there becomes a bit of a timeline issue here.

Toronto has hired a search firm to help with the process, but it’s unclear how far along MLSE President Keith Pelley is with Neil Glasberg’s firm, or how many other candidates have made the short list. Mehta, interestingly, is a Glasberg and Coaching Agency client.

As for the Devils, David Blitzer, who’s one of the owners of the Devils, actually hired Mehta a year ago, and TSN’s Darren Dreger reports, “I’m told he’s got a lot of time for everything that he’s done.”

If there’s one thing we’re learning already as the season winds down, Sunny Mehta will not survive the off-season and he will be a team’s general manager by July 1st.

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