Mehta Betting Favourite To Take Over As Maple Leafs’ GM
Posted on: April 8, 2026, 08:52h.
Last updated on: April 8, 2026, 10:02h.
- Maple Leafs head into off-season next week with naming a new Head of Hockey Operations the key priority
- Current Blues’ President and GM Doug Armstrong drops down in FanDuel betting odds
- Betting favorite Sunny Mehta brings data analytics expertise
On the Toronto sports betting front this morning, talk is about the NBA Raptors, fresh off a gritty 121-95 win over the Heat in Miami last night, shoulder deep in an Eastern Conference playoff race, now one game up on the Philadelphia 76ers for sixth place.
The Raptors are trying to avoid finishing seventh to tenth in the Conference, where they would have to take part in the NBA’s Play-In Tournament that will determine the final two playoff seeds (seventh and eighth).
FanDuel Market on Next Leafs’ GM
The MLB’s Toronto Blue Jays are mired by a myriad of injuries to key guys, a flu bug sweeping through the clubhouse, and now five losses in a row, after dropping another game to the Los Angeles Dodgers last night, 4-1.
Mercifully, the Dodgers series wraps up tonight. Shohei Ohtani starts against Dylan Cease, with the Dodgers betting favorites at DraftKings, at -171 this morning, the Jays at +141.
MLS’ Toronto FC is off to a good start (3-2-1), led by new signings, like American forward Josh Sargent, who netted the winner off a header Saturday to salt a come-from-behind 3-2 win over the Colorado Rapids at BMO Field.
The NHL’s Maple Leafs, in the so-called center of the hockey universe, however, are in a death march to the end of the regular season, next week. We don’t remember a time when the state of the team seemed so bleak.
One of the worst teams in the NHL, currently, and no word from captain Auston Matthews on his thoughts about his future in Toronto (two more years on his contract at $13.25 million per year, after this season), out of the lineup after knee surgery.
Mehta the Betting Favorite
The team fired their general manager, Brad Treliving, last week, and a news conference the next day by the organization’s president, Keith Pelley, did nothing to alleviate concerns from the fan base about the managerial competence.
With an organization that hasn’t won anything of substance for almost 60 years, despite being ranked as the most valuable NHL franchise ($4.4 billion according to Forbes) who can blame them?
The Leafs don’t have a team president, after Brendan Shanahan was fired last summer. The organization has hired The Coaches Agency to conduct a job search for a new head of hockey operations.
FanDuel has a “Leafs Next GM” market out there. This morning Florida Panthers’ Assistant General Manager Sunny Mehta is the betting favourite at -122, former Buffalo Sabres’ General Manager Kevyn Adams at +440, London Knights’ (Ontario Hockey League) Owner, Vice President and General Manager Mark Hunter at +790, Edmonton Oilers’ Assistant General Manager Bill Scott at +790, current Leafs’ Assistant General Manager Brandon Pridham at +1120, and former NHL all-star defenseman Chris Pronger at +1300.
Data Analytics Focus
Adams is interesting. Fired by the Sabres in December, after the team started the season 14-15-4, seemingly on a fast track to missing the playoffs again (for what would be the 14th consecutive season), the Sabres’ season turned dramatically – a team that Adams built. The Sabres are third in the Western Conference, at 47-23-8, and there’s talk out there they might be a viable Stanley Cup winner pick.
The Sabres are betting favorites in New York against the Rangers tonight, at -148 (DraftKings), and are +1700 to win the Cup, after the Colorado Avalanche at +300, Tampa Bay Lightning +450, Carolina Hurricanes +475, Dallas Stars +950, Vegas Golden Knights +1200 and Edmonton Oilers +1200.
Armstrong Odds Lengthen
Oddsmakers like Mehta because Pelley, in that news conference, talked about the new head of hockey operations needing to have experience and expertise in data analytics. Mehta – a former professional poker player – has made a mark with the Stanley Cup champions in data analytics, supporting General Manager Bill Zito.
Current St. Louis Blues President and General Manager Doug Armstrong is now at +1800, have dropped like a sinker after news reporting that the Blues aren’t going to let him out of his contract. Armstrong was a betting favorite just a week ago.
Bettors Have an Eye on Pronger
Hunter is a true hockey man with a stellar reputation running an elite Knights hockey program for over ten years. He was an Assistant General Manager with the Leafs from 2016-2018 and was behind the drafting several of the key players on the roster currently. Hunter is one of the top hockey talent evaluators out there and would make a strong hockey-first complement to a data analytics person. It’s doubtful Mehta would leave sunny Florida for anything but a head of hockey operations role, though.
Pronger has been out in media circles these days, pushing a new book. According to the FanDuel Canada Trading Team, bettors like him for the Leafs’ job.
Ontarians have their eyes on Chris Pronger, with 15% of all bets to be the next Leafs GM,” a FanDuel spokesperson told Casino.org. “Closely followed by Sunny Mehta and Doug Armstrong. Sunny Mehta’s odds went from +450 last week to -122 today.”
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