May 3: Toronto has confirmed both hirings on Sunday. Chayka is stepping in as general manager, while Sundin is joining as senior executive advisor. Maple Leafs president Keith Pelley’s statement was as follows:
I’m thrilled to welcome John and Mats to their roles, two great hockey minds that will strengthen our entire hockey club. From the start of this process, it’s been about building a championship-calibre team for our fans and our city and today is an important step towards that goal.
May 2: The Toronto Maple Leafs are expected to hold a press conference on Monday where they will announce Mats Sundin and John Chayka have been hired to lead the team’s front office. The news was first reported by Steve Simmons of the Toronto Sun and later seconded by Sportsnet. The specifics of roles and responsibilities haven’t been defined, but it seems likely that Chayka will step into the team’s vacant general manager role.
Chayka became the youngest general manager in NHL history when he was hired by the Arizona Coyotes on May 4, 2016, at the age of 26. He was championed as an innovative, analytical thinker at the time and held the Coyotes role through four seasons, also serving as President of Hockey Operations for the latter three. Arizona only made the playoffs in Chayka’s last season, but he suddenly resigned from his roles just one day before the team kicked off the 2020 Stanley Cup Playoffs. The decision came just eight months after Chayka agreed to a multi-year extension with the Coyotes.
The NHL suspended Chayka in 2021 after it was revealed that he had entertained offers from other teams while still under contract with the Coyotes. The league also discovered that Chayka and the Coyotes had held private draft combines, something strictly forbidden by the league. Arizona was forced to give up its 2020 second-round pick and 2021 first-round pick as a result.
Chayka championed roster turnover in his time with the Coyotes. He added multiple impactful players to the roster, including Phil Kessel, Taylor Hall, Niklas Hjalmarsson, and Darcy Kuemper. He also brought in players who remain core components of the Utah Mammoth: Nick Schmaltz, Lawson Crouse, Clayton Keller, and Barrett Hayton. But quantity did not mean quality for the Coyotes, who struggled to click and never managed more than 35 wins under Chayka’s reign. He did have a knack for finding NHL talent in the draft, selecting six players who have gone on to play in at least 200 NHL games, though that is out of 32 total selections.
Many of Chayka’s gut calls seemed to be the right choices at the wrong time. He will look to correct his timing with a Toronto club in need of any kind of direction forward. The Maple Leafs managed to break out of their first-round slumps with trips to the second round in 2023 and 2025 – but they haven’t made it to the Eastern Conference Finals since 2002.
The Leafs couldn’t capitalize on the combination of Auston Matthews, William Nylander, John Tavares, and Mitch Marner – losing the latter to the Vegas Golden Knights last summer. Chayka’s primary task will be to build a core that can push through the playoffs before more of their core four step out of the lineup. He will have the boost of young difference-makers Matthew Knies and Easton Cowan, though the former appeared in trade rumors through the middle of the season. That trade could kick off a refresh of the Toronto lineup, as much as the decision to keep Knies around could define the top-end of Toronto’s future.
Sundin will be a strong steward as the Maple Leafs enter a new era. He joined the Leafs in a franchise-changing trade in 1994, with Wendel Clark among the four assets sent back to the Quebec Nordiques. Sundin, only two seasons removed from his first season above 100 points, instantly scored at a point-per-game pace for the Maple Leafs. He reached 94 points in the 1996-97 season, enough to cement his spot as the leader of Toronto’s lineup and earn him the captaincy. He wore the ‘C’ for the next 11 seasons from 1997 to 2008. Even in his final season in Toronto, Sundin managed 78 points in 74 games. His career spanned the Leafs’ last two trips to the Eastern Conference Finals – in 2002 and 1999. He left the Leafs for one season with the Vancouver Canucks in 2008-09, then retired as Toronto’s all-time points leader (987). He also held the goals record (420) until Matthews passed him on January 3.
Sundin’s number was retired by Toronto in 2012. He was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame nine months later. In retirement, he has lived in the same privacy he fought for during his playing days. He supported Team Sweden at the 2013 World Championship and the 2017 World Cup as a team consultant. The Tre Kronor won Gold at both tournaments. Sundin has otherwise not filled any formal team roles. The same robust leadership and hockey knowledge that guided his playing career will now guide Sundin’s managerial career. His guidance could be an important presence for Toronto’s top players.
Photo courtesy of Patrick Breen, Patrick Breen/The Republic.
As Paul Weller once said, That’s entertainment!!!!
Correction: Borje Salming is still the franchise’s assists leader
The Leafs hiring of Chayka shows how much they value GMs who give away draft picks for nothing.
That and a cheater. Chayka is a proven bad individual.
Hiring the former franchise star to run the organization always works out.
Joe Sakic.
Joe Sakic worked out well in Colorado. Ya never know
Love Mats but none of this matters as long as the fools at MLSE tells them that Matthews, Nylander, Tavares and Rielly must stay put – especially the moron wearing 88!
Also it won’t matter which direction they go since the fan base are all dumb stupid sheep following this garbage and keep paying insane prices to watch 💩 on the ice year after year.
Doomed organization run by fools and followed by sheep jumping off the cliff with them.
May Chayka do for the Leafs what he did for the Coyotes. 🤭
The tone-deaf leading the experience-blind.
Congrats to the fans of every other Canadian and Atlantic Division team!
Chayka drafted above average, handled out contracts above average and made only a few trades.
Importantly, he made no blunders.
Overall, competent enough for the job.
Sundin though is another matter. Sounds like another Shanahan – a big name with no track record.
This just in: every guy with a track record at one point had no track record. It’s only hockey. Why can’t a lifetime hockey guy do the job?
This just in: 99.99% of guys start their track record in lower positions where they actually learn how to do the job.
I notice the chuckles about Dubas have stopped up there.
It’s a ballsy hire, I’ll give ’em that.
I don’t think Keith Pelley knows what he’s doing.
Poor Mats teaming him up with Chyka who didn’t know the rules of how to draft Where is John Ferguson jr
LOL
Matthews is going to Minnesota for a goalie a number one pick and other things
Leafs need a goalie????😆
Minny no longer can accomplish this kind of trade.
This seems familiar – HOF player and one-time wonder kid. The hire seems bold, but bold is not what is required in Toronto. How about experience? Pedigree? Vision? Questionable hire.
It’s like watching a car wreck in slow motion. Everybody knows what the issues are (goaltending, defense and top heavy contracts) except for the front office.
One good thing could come of this. If/when things go sideways, Mats could turn Chayka into a cabbie! 😆
every GM they’ve hired could have been a legend if they just fixed the blueline and plugged the massive hole in goal .. don’t see this hire going any differently
Well done. Now hire Pierre McGuire, DJ Smith or Adam Foote as the next head coach
Did anyone see the 💩show of a press conference the Leafs had to announce the hiring?
Congratulations to John and Mats in their new roles.
John sounds like a creative person who, in the past, was on the cutting edge of employing statistical analysis to help inform his decisions. While he made some mistakes, he was very young when he took on his last managerial position in the NHL.
Mats was a steady, dedicated, reliable and productive professional in all aspects when he was captain of the Leafs. He was well liked and respected and gave a lot to the City of Toronto, both on and off the ice.
Not the easiest situation to come into, under the circumstances, but best of luck in moving forward and welcome aboard.