It’s not Day One anymore.

Devils’ GM Sunny Mehta was officially hired on April 16, 2026. Since then, he’s hit the ground running. Among the most notable decisions that Mehta faced out of the gate were what to do regarding Sheldon Keefe and the coaching staff, get Captain Nico Hischier to agree to a contract extension, prepare for the draft and free agency, figure out the team’s plan in goal and decide whether or not to trade Simon Nemec. 

On Thursday, July 2nd, just 77 days after being hired, Mehta addressed the media for the first time since his introductory press conference and he openly discussed each of the aforementioned points, as well as several others.

So let’s start with how he’s feeling now that he’s almost three months into the job.

“I feel good. I mean, what I said when I came in, I saw the potential that was here with this franchise, which was a big part of also why I wanted to come. That’s just been pretty much echoed every day in the last 75 days. 

“It’s funny hearing you say that number. It is weird saying that it’s 75 days. But yeah, no, obviously, we made some changes, right? We made some staff changes. We made some changes to the coaching staff. We felt those were necessary. We’re pretty excited about what we have here, both in terms of, I can’t say enough good things about my staff, just unbelievable job by my whole staff the last two months and particularly, in this pressure time over the last couple weeks. 

“Just can’t say enough great things about them. And then, yeah, same thing with the roster. You know, it’s, Rome wasn’t built in a day. I’m not saying, by any means, that this is somehow done. It’s always a work in progress. 

“But I’ve said all along that I came in here and there’s good pieces to start with and I’m pretty happy with what we’ve done so far in terms of adding around that. And I don’t think we’re done. We’re kind of never done, but particularly now, I don’t think we’re done. So let’s see what happens.”

Mehta ultimately decided to keep Head Coach Sheldon Keefe, while making tweaks to his assistants, which may prove to be a smart move as the Devils need to break their cycle of shuffling through head coaches every couple of years.

Another piece of the team’s leadership, its Captain, Nico Hischier, at times last season, appeared to “wear it” a bit much as the losses piled up, leading some to believe that he might choose not to extend his contract, which was due to expire after the 2026-27 season.

However, Mehta and Hischier dispelled that rumor by announcing a new, five-year extension that kicks in after next year, meaning that the Captain is committed to New Jersey for at least six more years. 

“If he had decided to just wait a year and become a free agent, could he have gotten potentially considerably more money? Very possibly,” Mehta told the media. “But, from the get-go, it was obvious to me that that wasn’t even a thought for him. He wants nothing more than to win as a Devil. 

“He takes his captaincy extremely seriously. He wears everything here so personally. He wants to win so bad and he made that decision and not only am I grateful and have so much respect for him showing this kind of loyalty to the Devils, but the other thing is, it kind of sets a precedent, too, right? 

“Look at what our captain is sort of wanting to do to stay. To him, the thing that matters is being a Devil and winning here and staying with the Devils and that’s the way I know I felt when I came here. 

“You all know what this organization means to me, so to get that from Nico, too, it’s a great precedent to set and I also think we saw that. There’s absolutely no onus or anything owed by the players to somehow take less money. That’s a personal decision. Every player has to do what’s right. But what I can tell you is, we all know this is a cap league. So, managing the salary cap and getting not just good players, but good players at good cap numbers, is a really key part to winning. 

“We saw that in Florida. So, Nico kind of being the first big piece sets a tone for this organization and for this roster and again, I’m really pumped.”

While Mehta is pumped to keep his captain, he ultimately decided to trade Simon Nemec to the Calgary Flames and also traded Jacob Markstrom to the Florida Panthers, which currently opens the starting netminders’ job for Nico Daws to potentially grab, especially after he just agreed to a two-year extension.

“Nico Daws has been a pretty big prospect for us for years now and kind of really hasn’t had the path to sort of develop,” Mehta said. “For me, we’re pretty excited about the potential opportunity in front of him. So, obviously, having said that, I think we would consider anything and everything. 

“As time goes on, we’ll see. But, for now, I guess I would answer that by just saying I’m really excited to see. We know what Jake (Allen) can bring. We’ve seen that. Outstanding guy, outstanding goaltender. And I’m pretty excited about the opportunity in front of Nico, because he really hasn’t been given that sort of runway and that path and I think he has that now.”

“I met with Nemo a few weeks ago,” Mehta said. “He’s a great young man. It was tough, because I do think he was an important draft pick for us and he’s a good player and a good guy, good kid. 

“I just think that, when I talked to him, I know there was a lot of stuff reported about him, like asking for a trade and stuff like that. That was not true. I had a really candid conversation with him and I think that when I heard him, to a large extent, I really kind of understood his position, which is just that he just wants a path. 

“He wants a path to develop and a path to sort of grow into the role that he foresees for himself. And I think he would’ve been fine having that here or elsewhere. Ultimately, in the end, I just felt like the return that we got from Calgary was just kind of too good to pass up. Getting the two first (round picks), plus the second, I just thought that they, obviously, showed a lot. They kind of stepped up with their offer to get him and I just thought it was ultimately the right thing for the organization to move on.”

“The decision wasn’t easy to move Markstrom,” Mehta said. “We felt like it was the right thing for where this franchise is right now. The opportunity to get Evan Rodrigues back was just so huge.”

There’s a lot to unpack in all of Mehta’s answers. For starters, while he obviously plays things close to the vest as a former professional poker player, you get the sense that he’s not bluffing when he says he wants to see what Nico Daws can do with the proper runway. Now, that doesn’t mean he won’t take a swing to try and get a proven goaltender, but, at least for now, he wants to see what he has in-house.

Regarding Nemec, it sounds like Calgary simply bowled Mehta over with their final offer and there’s nothing wrong with that. 

As for Markstrom, again, it goes back to giving Nemec the lane to prove whether or not he can be The Guy for New Jersey. However, getting Evan Rodrigues is also something that Mehta has wanted and now he’s counting on him to be a leader on the Devils. 

“It was huge,” Mehta said. “Huge, huge. (A) key, key piece of that trade for me. Was a target, in my mind, when we first got him in Florida and was absolutely a target in this trade too. Evan’s one of those guys who, to some extent, has kind of been ‘underrated’ his entire career. Just a guy who can kind of slot in all over the lineup. 

“Plays hard. Really kind of sneaky, good defensive player. Good offense too. Like sneaky good offense as well. Really good hockey sense. He’s got a good one-timer. He can play against good players. He can play lower down in the lineup. He can play center, he can play wing. So that’s kind of the on-ice portion. 

“And then, as you alluded to, kind of like, even the off-ice, he’s now, I was talking about this with Evan when I spoke to him. I think that, for him, in a lot of ways, this is sort of the next logical step in his career, where he’s been an important cog in this machine down in Florida and now, he’s gonna come here as one of our leaders. 

“He’s gonna come in here and he’s coming in as a veteran guy now who’s won two Stanley Cups, who’s experienced a lot of different things. He’s been through a lot in his career, ups, downs, everything. 

“I told him this myself. I said, ‘The team needs you. I need you to help us.’ Because I think that sort of character, it’s exactly what we need right now. So I’m really, I can’t say enough good things about Evan and I’m really excited to have him here in Jersey.”

Sunny Mehta is slowly making this roster into his image and guys like Rodrigues will help with that. And as he alluded to, he’s not done yet. It’s only July 2nd and Mehta has been GM for only 77 days. 

There’s a lot of summer left. So let’s see where he goes from here. The hard part isn’t over; it’s only just beginning.