Devils introduce poker-playing GM who embraces chance to turn franchise around: ‘No one’s happy’

One by one, Devils players, alumni and current staffers crowded into the east concourse of the Prudential Center Tuesday afternoon. On a temporary dais, co-owner David Blitzer greeted Sunny Mehta, the new general manager he had hired days earlier , but before introducing Mehta, Blitzer addressed the events that led to Mehta’s predecessor, Tom Fitzgerald, being fired after the team failed to make the playoffs for a second time in three seasons. “No one’s happy -- to be clear,” Blitzer said.

“The team’s not happy. Ownership’s not happy. And of course our fans are not happy.

” Blitzer paused. “I assure you that we are doing everything we can to bring this club and this organization back to what you all expect of us. ” He then handed the reins to Sunny Mehta, the 48-year-old from Franklin Lakes who served in the Florida Panthers front office for the last six seasons, the last two of which ended in the Panthers claiming the Stanley Cup with Mehta heading up the analytics departments as an assistant general manager.

Mehta, who was born in Michigan but moved to New Jersey when he was a boy, grew up a Devils fan and previously worked for the team from 2014-19 as part of the first wave of analytics-focused executives in the NHL. Now charged with overseeing the entire hockey operations department in Newark, Mehta expressed a readiness to evaluate all aspects of the organization as the Devils continue their pursuit of a fourth Stanley Cup, the last having come in 2003. “I have literally studied and practiced that decision making under the cloud of risk for the past 25 years,” Mehta said.