Leafs and Devils are cleared to interview Sunny Mehta and the race is on

This is not just about filling Brad Treliving's old chair. It is about who gets to redesign the Maple Leafs after a collapse.

Toronto fired Treliving on March 31. The Leafs were then officially out on April 3, and they sit at 32-32-14 after Wednesday's 4-0 loss to Washington.

Keith Pelley now has one clean shot to choose the next brain. That matters more than any cosmetic title.

Mehta makes sense because Toronto does not need another old script. It needs someone who can connect cap math, roster value, and hard decisions on the core.

You can feel the league circling Florida's front office right now.

The tweet matters because the Leafs and Devils got permission to talk to Mehta. Nashville also brought Panthers executive Brett Peterson in for an in-person GM interview.

Fans are right to read this as a fight over identity, not paperwork.

Florida is the two-time defending Stanley Cup champion, so rivals are trying to steal process, not just people. That is what smart teams do when they are behind.

For Toronto, the key question is simple. Does Mehta arrive to run hockey ops, or does he report into another layer above him?

That answer changes everything around Craig Berube, Auston Matthews, and the next version of the blue line. A split structure would smell like hesitation.

The Leafs did not miss because of one bad week. They missed because the roster lost playmaking, the power play slid, and the team bled goals.

Mehta's appeal is that he is not trapped in one lane. Toronto needs that now more than another safe handshake.

The next milestone is not the draft lottery. It is whether Pelley picks one boss and lets him cut deep.

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