It has been over a week since the Toronto Maple Leafs parted ways with now-former GM Brad Treliving, and already names of potential replacement candidates are churning through the rumour mill. Among those names is current Florida Panther assistant GM Sunny Mehta.
It’s no shock to hear Mehta’s name being circulated, as fellow Panthers assistant GM, Brett Peterson, was reported as interviewing for the Nashville Predators’ open GM job back in March. And with how quickly the Panthers rose from a fringe playoff team to a two-time Stanley Cup champ, it makes sense that teams in search of a GM to change their recent fortunes, like the Leafs, may want to bring in a piece of the Panthers’ internal brain-trust.
But what makes Mehta himself a good candidate to right the ship in Toronto? In short, quite a lot.
An emphasis on analytics
On March 31, MLSE President and CEO Keith Pelley spoke to the media about the firing of Treliving, and when on the topic of what the team will be looking for in their search, he emphasized one main thing.
“They have to really understand the importance of data and where data is moving,” Pelley said. “Every single decision we make will be evidence-based. Evidence-based decisions are never wrong.”
With this emphasis on numbers-based management in mind, Mehta would be the ideal fit. It is well known in Florida that Mehta is an expert at analyzing player statistics and related data to determine team moves. Even before he was helping the Panthers win back-to-back Cups, Mehta was head of the NHL’s first full-time analytics department with the New Jersey Devils, and even before that, Mehta worked for six MLB teams.
His skill set lines up perfectly with what Pelley claims to want for the Leafs. He first began with the Panthers as vice president of hockey strategy and intelligence for three years before becoming assistant GM and head of analytics. He would be met with a team that still has some very solid core pieces to build with in William Nylander, Auston Matthews and a few others, but with an opportunity to make some big moves and changes to get the team to a better place, not necessarily next season, but within the next couple of years.
Identifying undervalued assets
Whether you believe in analytics or not, Mehta’s track record in Florida can’t be denied. The 48-year-old seems to have a knack for identifying under-performing players who can excel in his team’s system. This was discussed on TSN’s Overdrive show on Tuesday, and The Athletic reporter Jonas Siegel pointed out how Mehta showed his abilities when acquiring Sam Bennett from the Calgary Flames in 2021.
“Sam Bennett was barely playing for Calgary when they made that trade, and now we look at it, and we’re like, ‘How did we get Sam Bennett?’” Siegel said. “He wasn’t getting on the ice. Like he was a healthy scratch in Calgary.”
Just looking at Bennett’s stats confirms his career shift once he arrived in Florida. In Calgary, Bennett’s highest single-season point total came in his rookie year when he netted 36 points, and in all six seasons with the Flames, Bennett had a negative plus-minus total. But with the Panthers, Bennett has put up 40 points or more in each full season with the team, and his plus-minus has been positive in three out of five seasons with the Panthers—four out of six if you count the 10 games he played with Florida after initially being traded to the Panthers. And let’s not forget about the forward’s expert play in the 2025 postseason, which won him the Conn Smythe Trophy.
Other similar cases
The same trend can also be seen in the stats of a Panthers acquisition from around the 2025 trade deadline, defenceman Seth Jones. The now-31-year-old D-man’s point totals weren’t terrible with the Chicago Blackhawks, but his plus-minus totals reflected a negative impact during his time on the ice, never once putting up a positive plus-minus total with Chicago. But when he came to Florida, Jones looked like a new player that was finally in the right system, and come playoff time, he was one of the key players for Florida en route to the 2025 Stanley Cup, and for the first time in a while, he was having a good impact with a plus-11 in the postseason.
And if you want to look at a real ‘buy low’ example, the Panthers picked up Swedish defenceman Gustav Forsling off of waivers from the Caroline Hurricanes in January of 2021. At that time, Forsling had never put up more than 13 points in a season. With the Panthers, he has put up over 28 points in all but one season, and he played a big role in the team’s 2024 Cup run, contributing 13 points in 24 games. Yet another underperforming player that Mehta and company turned into a valuable piece.
Now, just imagine if Mehta can work some of that magic in Toronto, getting the Leafs some valuable pieces where other GMs aren’t looking, quietly building a powerhouse that can morph into a contender with just a bit of time and attention. It seems too good to be true, and it very well may be, but if there is anyone who can flip the script in Toronto, it may just be the guy who helped to do just that in the Sunshine State.
