Sunny Mehta has been a musician, a professional poker player and an author, and he has worked in finance. He has lived in New Orleans, Chicago, Miami and Las Vegas.

But through it all, one constant has remained: his love for the Devils.

So when the owners of the Devils, Josh Harris and David Blitzer, wanted to start the N.H.L.’s first full-time analytics department last year, Mehta made sense as its director.

N.H.L. training camps are opening this weekend, and more analytics departments have sprouted around the league as teams embrace advanced statistics. Mehta will look to find every edge for the Devils, who are projected by many to be one of the N.H.L.’s worst teams in the 2015-16 season. In his second year as the organization’s analytics director, Mehta finds himself in a more collaborative and forward-thinking environment than he did in his first season.

“It’s been an interesting year,” Mehta, 37, said. “This is a dream job. It’s exciting to be part of the decision making.”