Devils name Braden Birch Utica GM, bolster AHL pipeline plans

The Devils did not just add a title to Braden Birch’s business card. They handed their AHL bridge to Newark to a 36-year-old hockey operator whose day job now reaches from scouting and contract management to roster strategy and salary-cap planning, exactly as the Utica Comets try to bounce back from missing the playoffs by one point.

Birch was named assistant general manager of the New Jersey Devils and general manager of the Utica Comets on May 11, giving Sunny Mehta his first front-office hire since taking over as Devils general manager on April 16. For Utica, it is a notable reset. Birch is the fourth general manager in franchise history and replaces Dan MacKinnon, who held the post for the previous five seasons.

The move matters because Birch’s background is built for the sort of pressure that now sits on the Devils’ development system. He spent 12 years in the Florida Panthers organization, including the past five as director of hockey operations and salary cap management, after previously serving as a special assistant to the general manager. Mehta and Birch also worked together in Florida during the Panthers’ back-to-back Stanley Cup runs in 2024 and 2025, giving New Jersey a familiar voice at the center of its NHL-AHL alignment.

That alignment is the real story in Utica. Birch will help Mehta and the Devils staff with scouting, contract management, roster construction and cap strategy, which means his influence will extend beyond the Comets’ lineup card and into the kinds of moves that determine how quickly prospects move between Utica and Newark. After a season that ended one point shy of the Calder Cup Playoffs, the Devils have made clear that they want their affiliate managed with more precision and tighter organizational coordination.

Birch’s own path fits the job. The Hamilton, Ontario native was selected by the Chicago Blackhawks in the sixth round, 179th overall, in the 2008 NHL Draft, then played four seasons at Cornell University from 2009 to 2013. He skated in 128 career games for the Big Red and finished with 21 points, serving as tri-captain in his senior season. After college, he played 17 games with HIFK in Finland’s Liiga and 31 combined ECHL games with the Florida Everblades and Colorado Eagles.

He now steps into a role that links the Devils’ budget, the Comets’ roster and the next wave of development in Utica. For New Jersey, that is the point.