Mehta's Standard in New Jersey: Cup or Disappointment

Sunny Mehta isn't dressing up his expectations in his first season running the New Jersey Devils.

"Any step that we take from last year is going to be considered a 'success,'" Mehta told NHL.com. "But I guarantee you that unless we win a Stanley Cup, no matter what happens, I'm probably going to be disappointed."

He knows how that sounds. "I realize (wanting nothing more than a Stanley Cup) is irrational," he said. "But that's just the difference between rationality and emotion."

The emotion has a local address. Mehta grew up in Totowa, New Jersey, watching the Devils win their three championships, and played high school hockey at Ramapo. He spent four seasons as the club's director of hockey analytics under Lou Lamoriello and Ray Shero before leaving for Florida, where he spent six seasons, the last three as assistant general manager and director of analytics, and helped the Panthers win back-to-back Cups in 2024 and 2025. He was hired in New Jersey on April 16.

The job in front of him is plain enough. New Jersey has missed the playoffs 11 times in the past 14 seasons, including last year, when it finished seventh in the Metropolitan Division.

Mehta's diagnosis centers on what happened when the top guys sat. "Last season, this was a very good team when Jack Hughes or Nico Hischier was on the ice, but not nearly as good when they weren't," he said. "Instead of simply finding better fourth-line players, the goal was to add second line-caliber players and shift everyone accordingly."

He pointed to the additions of Amadeus Lombardi, Declan Chisholm, Luke Evangelista and Anthony Mantha, and said he told Connor Brown the team doesn't really have a fourth line this season. "We kind of have two first lines and two second lines."

As for identity, Mehta isn't importing Florida's. "Looking at our roster, we should be a fast, skilled and intelligent team," he said, citing a Luke Hughes play in a Sept. 18 scrimmage where the defenseman killed a rush with his feet without touching the puck.

On coach Sheldon Keefe, whom he did not know before taking the job: "His explanations are logical, and we generally see things similarly. It's still early."