New Jersey Devils are rightfully ecstatic about Friday’s Connor Hellebuyck trade.
The Devils paid a boatload for the three-time Vezina Trophy winner. And while the return will be the subject of debate for weeks to come, the bottom line is this: Sunny Mehta will have to eat his hat.
At the beginning of his tenure, the then-newly minted GM discussed his aversion to paying top dollar for a goaltender. Among other remarks, he called the idea of an elite goalie “random.”
Well, it seems that Mehta is done playing poker and has realized that actually running an NHL franchise is much different.
In a now-infamous interview with Daily Faceoff, Mehta tried to dispel the notion that having a top goalie was conducive to winning.
“I think a lot of opinions I’ve expressed about goaltending are turned into single quote meme or headline. ‘Oh, he doesn’t care about goaltending’ or something like that.”
Well, Mehta didn’t complain about having Sergei Bobrovsky during his time with the Florida Panthers. But Mehta doubled down on this take, making it clear that goaltending isn’t quite as predictable as other positions in hockey.
“Even if we went out and got whoever you think is the best goaltender, the probability of that person actually performing as the best goaltender results-wise next year is far lower than if you took a bet on, say, whether Connor McDavid going to be in the top five in scoring. There’s way higher probability of that bet being right than any bet on goaltending.”
“Why is it just that you hate goalies?”😂
— Daily Faceoff (@DailyFaceoff) October 2, 2026
Sunny Mehta explains why goaltending is so difficult to project — and why that unpredictability matters when building an NHL roster. #NJDevils@StapeNHL | @Rupper17 | @JLazzy23
Presented by @bet365ca #bet365 pic.twitter.com/Nlzq1CwXxu
All right, so why now? Why the sudden pivot to Hellebuyck?
Mehta fiercely defended his decision to run with Jake Allen and Nico Daws. And for the most part, they’ve been good.
It seems that Mehta suddenly changed his tune when he realized that stats, probabilities, and trends only tell part of the story.
Connor Hellebuyck gives teams a psychological bump that no numbers can
I recently wrote a story about an interview with former Boston Bruins captain Patrice Bergeron. During the interview, Bergeron discussed what it was like to have Carey Price in the crease during his Team Canada days.
Bergeron underscored how confident the entire team felt by knowing that Price had their backs.
That’s what an elite goalie does. And it’s surprising that someone like Mehta hadn’t realized that. For all the analytics anyone could want, there’s nothing in the numbers that can replace the psychological bump that comes with having an elite netminder playing behind you.
Jack Hughes knows that. He knew that in the 3-on-3 overtime against Team Canada at the 2026 Olympics. Hughes was aware that if he made a mistake during that period, he had Hellebuyck there, ready to take on whatever came his way.
That’s why Mehta is doing this. It wouldn’t surprise me to hear Hughes talk some sense into Mehta about just how much better the Devils could play if they knew Hellebuyck was back there.
That’s not a knock on Daws or Allen. It’s just a reality.
Think about it. Who’s going to make everyone sleep easy at night?
Mehta had no choice but to swallow his numbers and bet on the best goaltender in the NHL at the moment. The only thing that’s left now is to see if the deal will indeed pay off.
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