​The New Jersey Devils haven’t had the loudest summer out of all of the NHL teams, but they’ve certainly had a productive one. General Manager Sunny Mehta hasn’t been shy about making changes to a roster that underperformed last season. Coaching adjustments have been made, the defense logjam appears to be cleared, and while goaltending hasn’t been solved yet, moving on from a player who wasn’t performing (and was drawing the ire of most of the fan base) appears to be a good thing, at least on paper.Mehta has also tried to improve the team’s forwards, first via the aforementioned goalie trade. He next continued to try to add by attempting to sign Barrett Hayton away from Utah via offer sheet. Well, technically Mehta tried to acquire him via trade and Utah backed out; either way, the Mammoth wound up retaining Hayton by matching the offer. Mehta pivoted, went out and signed Anthony Mantha to a two year deal yesterday that, as Chris mentioned, came in below market predictions. The Mantha contract and a couple of his other offseason moves are setting the tone for the type of GM Devils fans should seemingly expect Mehta to be.AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementMehta has already shown his willingness to fix former General Manager Tom Fitzgerald’s mistakes. If sending Jacob Markstrom packing before his new deal kicked in wasn’t enough proof of that, then the David Rittich signing is another good indicator. Goaltending is still a giant question mark for the Devils, but Mehta wasn’t willing to go out and either sign an awful contract and/or make a trade that would deplete an already somewhat barren prospect pool even further. Instead, he kicked the can down the road for a season, deciding to see what the combination of Rittich, Jake Allen and re-signed RFA Nico Daws can do.Another breath of fresh air? Look at Mantha’s contract (or even just next to his name) on PuckPedia. There is ZERO trade protection on that deal. Unlike his predecessor who gave out protections like candy, Mehta may already be taking a stance that he’s not willing them unless it makes sense for player and team. While some of Fitz’s trade protection deals proved to be moveable (Markstrom and Ondrej Palat come to mind right away) the sheer volume of contracts with some sort of clause reportedly did hurt the Devils’ ability to improve the team while he was still here. If Mehta can continue to not hand out contract protections to players who are signed in support roles, then not only is the club more flexible, but the Devils could actually be in on players who are traded mid-season.The coaching adjustments also bode well for Mehta. How many years was Dave Rogalski around for and how many negative articles here alone focused on the fact that he was not making any goalie who played for him better? As I’ve said before, just look at who is in net for Colorado and while you can argue there’s better support there, I’d also point out both Scott Wedgewood and MacK