The New Jersey Devils were quiet on the first day of free agency. At least, until they weren’t quiet. Sunny Mehta, the new Devils GM, used the one tool most GMs seem hesitant and, frankly, afraid to use.
He sent an offer sheet to center Barrett Hayton, which was accepted. The deal, which is going to pay Hayton $4.775 million next season, will then make him an unrestricted free agent.
#NEWS: We’ve tendered an offer sheet to Utah Mammoth center Barrett Hayton, a one-year contract at $4,775,000 per year, which would require a second-round draft pick as compensation.
— New Jersey Devils (@NJDevils) July 1, 2026
The Utah Mammoth now have seven days to match the contract or accept a second-round pick for Hayton. Most believe that Hayton would get more than a second-round pick if Utah shopped him around, but that is off the table. If the Mammoth accept the deal, they cannot trade Hayton this offseason.
It really puts Utah in a bind, and that’s the point.
Sunny Mehta showed a ruthlessness that the New Jersey Devils need
The Mammoth were one of the most active teams in NHL Free Agency. On Wednesday, they signed Anders Lee to a pretty big three-year deal, signed Stenlund, and traded a decent package for Vincent Trochek. That left the Mammoth with 14 forwards on one-way contracts.
So, with the Devils taking this to the offer sheet status, it shows that they are not just going to wait for other teams to play ball. Reports say the Devils tried to get a deal done for Hayton at the Draft, but the Mammoth backed out. Now, the Devils are forcing them to make a decision. They couldn’t make last week.
Sources say that Utah and New Jersey had a deal in place for Barrett Hayton at the draft that Utah pulled out of late.
— Cam Robinson (@Hockey_Robinson) July 1, 2026
This is a move Sunny Mehta makes, but it’s not a move that Tom Fitzgerald made. Fitzgerald is the same GM who targeted players in Nashville seemingly every other month, only for Barry Trotz to take advantage of him and use him to try and force better returns elsewhere. This is the Fitzgerald who came in second place. This is the Fitzgerald who let Bill Guerin, his GM partner on Team USA, come in under him and steal the dream of getting the Hughes brothers all together. That last move cost him his job.
If there was ever a clear indication that there’s a new sheriff in town in New Jersey, it’s signing an offer sheet when a team is in a bad situation. That’s the move of a poker player. Mehta has been incredible to start his tenure. This move might push him into immediate superstar GM status.
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