The day after a massive trade is always fascinating, because that’s usually when the onion gets peeled and the details behind the deal come out. 

On Saturday, roughly 24 hours after the New Jersey Devils acquired goalie Connor Hellebuyck from the Winnipeg Jets in exchange for Nico Daws, Dawson Mercer, Alexander Command, Nick Bjugstad, a 2027 seventh-round pick and a 2029 second-round pick, GM Sunny Mehta, as well as his new netminder, took turns addressing the media to talk about the trade. 

The first (and main) takeaway is that when Mehta sees an opportunity to improve his team, he doesn’t hesitate and he makes it happen. 

“I’ve only been here six months and I mean, I don’t know how many trades I’ve made, but it’s a lot, right?” Mehta said. “Between (Simon) Nemec, (Jacob) Markstrom, (Amadeus) Lombardi, (Declan) Chisholm, (Luke) Evangelista and this one, it’s six months.”

That’s more than a facelift. Mehta has significantly reshaped New Jersey’s roster and its outlook, not just for this season, but for the next several to come. This move in particular had been rumored for months, but never really felt possible until a couple of days ago.

“I’m in constant dialogue with the other General Managers, often about just things here and there,” Mehta said. “I would categorize this to start in that sort of category where, even weeks ago, just when catching up with different GMs, when catching up with Chevy (Kevin Cheveldayoff), this was something that was at least touched upon. 

“It’s interesting because then I would say, in spite of that being however many weeks ago, it ramped up very quickly, very significantly in the last couple days. Like I would say, from the time that we retouched based on it just this week, probably went from those talks into a finished deal in like less than two days.”

The deal may have come together quickly, but that doesn’t mean the Devils are going to rush their new franchise netminder into action.

“We’re gonna wait, we’re gonna see,” Mehta explained. “The one thing about him, which I was told before I even spoke a word to him and it was reiterated immediately when I first talked to him, he was basically just like, ‘I’m ready to go. I’m already packed. I’ll get in my car right now and drive there,’ and I’m just like, ‘Please don’t do that.’ That’s what we traded for. We knew that. That attitude is unbelievable. 

“Having said that, we also wanna be smart. And again, every decision we make is calculated and collaborative. So we’re gonna — he’ll be in the loop on all that, but so will our Head of Athlete Care. We’ll have Sheldon involved. We’ll have our goaltending department involved. It’ll be a unified decision. It’s way too early. I just met him 20 minutes ago. So we’ll figure that out.”

Yes, the Devils obviously want Hellebuyck to play as soon as possible (they didn’t get him to sit around), but they’re going to be smart and not rush the 33-year-old who hasn’t played in an NHL game since April. As Mehta told MSG Networks’ Bryce Salvador and Rachel Herzog during Saturday’s Devils game against the Los Angeles Kings, “I didn’t get him here for October; I got him here for April.”

“It’s a new chapter for my family,” Hellebuyck said. “It’s a new, exciting time for us. We’re gonna have to get situated and get them here. Right now, they’re currently not, but they’ll be here soon. There’s so much ahead of me. It’s a new challenge and that’s what’s so exciting for me. I gotta figure out, not only day-by-day, but minute-by-minute, the new challenge that’s ahead of me and get acclimated to a group. Get my game legs back under me and I’m excited. I’m excited for this challenge and that’s what drives me.”

The heat of competition and the challenges it presents fuel Hellebuyck (along with trying to win The Stanley Cup). As a former options trader and professional poker player, Mehta is naturally competitive too, but that doesn’t mean he necessarily approaches trade negotiations in The NHL the same way he did in his previous occupations. Nor does he subscribe to the idea that some trades are bigger than others. 

“I wouldn’t internally describe it as a binary thing where it’s all in or not all in or ‘big’ move or ‘small’ move,” New Jersey’s GM explained. “Trust me, I totally get why that’s an exciting label from the fan standpoint and from the media standpoint. But we try not to think in binaries. It’s just, everything’s a continuum. Everything is just — it doesn’t matter whether it’s a ‘big’ move player or if it’s a ‘small’ move player. It’s all the same process where we’re trying to say, ‘What do you think this is worth to us winning?’ How does this improve our win probability? What do we think that’s worth? How do we project it going forward? What are we willing to give up?”

“I try to be transparent about that, even with the other GMs,” Mehta continued. “In some ways, I think the strategic part of that, from the roster construction, definitely relies on some of the skills I learned from poker and trading. But when I’ve been asked in the past about, when you’re talking to other GMs or agents, is the negotiating kind of like poker? And my philosophy has been that it’s kind of the opposite, where I’m not really trying to bluff. 

“I’m trying to be as transparent as possible, because I just think you get the best deals done when you just…I mean, to some extent that might be more leaning on the trading experience than the poker, because it’s not really bluffing; it’s more just being very upfront. In options trading, one of the key skills is you have to give a bid and an offer on every asset. And there’s nothing more transparent than that. You’re saying, ‘Here’s what I’m willing to buy it at and here’s what I’m willing to sell it at.’ And I think of these types of negotiations as being transparent from that perspective.”

Talk about a deep insight into how the Devils’ GM thinks. That’s PhD-level thinking for a sport that is much more comfortable explaining things at the Bachelor’s level. What doesn’t require an advanced degree is understanding how familiarity can help make a player feel comfortable in his new surroundings. 

“As far as a relationship with one specific person, I don’t know that that’s a huge part of the calculus,” Mehta explained. “The funny thing is, though, I would say it’s a benefit and in this case, it’s not just Jack and Luke; he also played with Kovacevic, he played with Dillon, he played with Chisholm. It’s at least nice for him to come in too. 

“I was just talking about this with him earlier. It’s probably nice for him to come in. Transitions are hard for everybody and so it’s probably nice for him to come into a place where he’s got familiar faces.”

That familiarity also comes from having played against the Devils throughout his career and they’re a team that he paid attention to while waiting for a resolution to his trade request. 

“I’ve always been a believer that defense wins championships,” Hellebuyck said. “That being said, you have to be able to score. And that’s exactly what they have here. They have a blend of that. I’m coming in and I need to do my part and do my job and when those guys need to go score goals, they need to know that there’s a rock back there to stop any mistakes that happen. That’s gonna be fun. That’s part of the adaptability and throughout now the 84-game season, you’re fine-tuning that and I’m looking forward to it.”

Hellebuyck hasn’t even suited up as a Devil and his new teammates are already well aware of what he brings and how he’ll fit into what they’re trying to do on the ice. 

“It’s nice not to feel like, when you’re shooting on him, that you’re never gonna get a goal or do anything,” Brett Pesce quipped. “It was never fun. I’ve been playing (against) him since I was in college. So it’s nice to have him on my side for once.”

Jack Hughes played with Hellebuyck on Team USA and while he’s excited for New Jersey to see what he saw from the decorated netminder, he also knows it’s going to take a little bit of time for him to get settled into his new home.

“Obviously, just texting him and talking to him,” Hughes said. “But (it’s) so early on. I know his family’s still back in Michigan and I’m sure he’ll get settled in. We go on the road for a week in a couple days, so I’m sure, over the next few weeks, he’ll get settled in and comfortable and start to figure it out.”

New Jersey’s Captain, Nico Hischier, summed up the move best: “We’ve got a great goalie coming in here; he definitely doesn’t need an introduction! We know what he can bring to the team. We’re excited to have Helle in here and everyone knows what he’s capable of and can help our group.”

As the Devils begin to integrate Hellebuyck into their team and family, there’s one thought on their minds – winning hockey, and that’s exactly the philosophy GM Sunny Mehta has brought to the organization since he took the job in April.