Why the Devils Should Partner Former Franchise Great with Sunny Mehta as GM

USA TODAY Sports The New Jersey Devils appear all-in on Sunny Mehta, who is of course the hottest name on the front-office market. But if the Devils can bring their former analytics director back as general manager, their next call should be to Brendan Shanahan. Shanahan would be the perfect complement to Mehta in the president-of-hockey-operations role and could bring the Devils into a new era of prominence.

The Devils, of course, have already requested an interview with Mehta for their GM role , which was vacated earlier this week when they fired Tom Fitzgerald. The Devils Should Lead Their Front Office With a Partnership of Sunny Mehta and Brendan Shanahan Dan Hamilton-Imagn Images That this ownership group of Josh Harris and David Blitzer wants to talk to Mehta is no surprise. They gave the Wyckoff native and former pro poker player his start in an NHL front office about a decade ago — and even made him report directly to them and not then-GM Fred Shero.

Mehta is smart and media savvy. But he has not yet been a general manager in the NHL and could use an experienced front-office member to support him. Insert Shanahan, who fits both the experienced front-office member criteria as well as a franchise great.

He was Lou Lamoriello’s first draft selection as Devils general manager in 1987 and played his first 281 games in a Devils uniform before bookending his career in New Jersey in 2008-09. Shanahan has already worked with an analytically driven GM when he and Kyle Dubas built the Toronto Maple Leafs to their most successful era in two decades. Of course, that duo had multiple top-10 picks to build their roster around in Morgan Rielly (No.