TORONTO — The Florida Panthers will not get in the way of Sunny Mehta’s rising star.
Not only has the 47-year-old assistant general manager been granted permission to interview with the Toronto Maple Leafs and New Jersey Devils for their vacant GM jobs, but Mehta’s praises were sung loudly Saturday as the Panthers rolled into Toronto.
Remember, Panthers GM Bill Zito was poached by Florida from the Columbus Blue Jackets’ front office. So it makes sense that Zito isn’t going to block members of his own team from earning promotions and raises elsewhere.
In addition to the Devils and Maple Leafs’ interest in Mehta, the Nashville Predators have interviewed fellow Panthers AGM Brett Peterson for their vacant GM role, as Barry Trotz is passing the baton.
When you’ve reached three straight Stanley Cup finals and won twice, your competitors want to snatch a piece of that success.
“My experience in Florida with all of Bill’s group has been fantastic,” Florida coach Paul Maurice said Saturday at Scotiabank Arena. “Sonny’s fantastic with analytics and his ability to articulate it to coaches — that easy conversation. We can ask questions; we get answers and explanations back.
“Brett Peterson and Gregory Campbell, part of that group, brought in guys from outside that weren’t flourishing where they were, and they become stars or part of our core.”
It’s not just the stars — like Sam Reinhart, Sam Bennett, Seth Jones, and Matthew Tkachuk — that Florida’s assistants help identify, though.
Depth players, Maurice says, have been critical to the club’s championships.
Maurice brings up an undervalued and injury-plagued Oliver Ekman-Larsson, bought out by Vancouver. Buy-low free agent A.J. Greer, now a character bottom-six checker with a championship ring. Nate Schmidt getting healthy-scratched in Winnipeg. Ryan Lomberg. Kevin Stenlund.
“We’ve been able to find those guys,” Maurice said, tipping his cap to Zito’s group. “Sometimes it’s just finding the right mix of guys. But they’ve hit that number right. And Sunny, with those others, is a big part of that.”
Mehta’s direct relationship with the Panthers players has been limited.
Panther-turned-Leaf Steven Lorentz shared a Cup with Mehta in 2024. Lorentz says he’d see the strategy wizard around the locker room but never got to know him on a personal level.
“Anytime you’re part of a winning organization,” Lorentz said, “obviously they’re doing something right. And it takes every single guy in the organization. So, whatever he’s doing, he’s doing a great job at it.
“Just shaking hands and seeing him around the room, he was always a great, welcoming guy. And he’s a very smart mind.”
Not just when it comes to identifying hockey fits, but also trading stocks and walking away from the card table with your money.
Sitting in the visitors’ room in Toronto, Greer smiled as he explained that Mehta, a former poker pro, gifted the forward one of the two books he’d written on Texas hold ’em.
“We talked a lot about that,” said Greer, a regular in the Panthers’ in-flight poker games. “Great guy. Very nice and welcoming. And I know that what we’ve built in Florida here has come a long way. He's been a big part of it.
“So, I wish him all the best if he does go somewhere else. And I do think that brilliant minds like him should have a spot to shine somewhere for sure.”
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