Devils hire former pro poker player to head analytics department

New Jersey Devils general manager Lou Lamoriello confirmed the team has hired former professional poker player Sunny Mehta to head the club's new analytics department, according to Tom Gulitti of Fire and Ice. Mehta, 36, co-authored two best-selling books on No-Limit Hold 'em, and recently turned his focus to applying advanced statistics to sports.

Devils’ owners Josh Harris and David Blitzer recommended the team put together an analytics department after doing the same with their co-owned Philadelphia 76ers.

While Lamoriello is often seen as an old-school hockey mind, he welcomes Mehta's addition to the staff with open arms:

Statistics have always been a part of the game. The word analytics is a buzzword right now. To try and stay ahead of the curve, we looked into and interviewed a lot of people. … I certainly was extremely open-minded to it because of my background in math and the way I look at statistics and the way I think of a value. If there is somebody that can look at something a little different and make us better, then that’s the approach you have to take. In my opinion, I don’t think you shut your eyes to anything.

In my opinion, he’s already added value in some of the ways he looks at things. You can always look at things in a different direction and then you have to make the final decision, but I don’t think you should ever have a closed mind to anything.

The GM would not get into specifics, of course, but Mehta did publish a piece in 2009 that detailed inaccuracies in tracking shot totals; while Lamoriello - like Jim Nill in Dallas - acknowledges the need for improved stat-tracking technology, he sees value in looking at the game from as many different angles as possible.

It’s an evolution, but statistics only go so far in the game: character, sense, who you play with, when you play, when you do what you do at what time. In other words, there’s so many variables involved that you can’t let it run away with you, but there’s always a value to looking at something a different way.

I can’t answer what people are doing and how they’re thinking, but I’d rather find out about it than read about it. We’re looking into the analytics, we’ve started an analytics department, we’re going to maximize and utilize it to the best value of our organization.

There's a great line in the movie Rounders where Matt Damon's character says, "If you can't spot the sucker in the first half hour at the table, then you are the sucker." Clearly the Devils are hoping the hiring of Sunny Mehta will put the team ahead of the curve in that respect.