Maple Leafs Expected To Hire Mats Sundin, John Chayka To Front Office

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 hasn’t been specified but it seems likely that Chayka steps 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 onto the Coyotes role through four seasons – also filling the President Of Hockey Operations role 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 mutli-year extension with the Coyotes.

The NHL suspended Chayka from working in the league in 2021, after it was revealed that he had entertained roles with 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 their 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 still exist as 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 made.

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 building 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 one of four assets going 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 leader in points (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 did support Team Sweden at the 2013 World Championship and 2017 World Cup as a team consultant. The Tre Kronor won Gold at both tournaments. Sundin has otherwise not filled any formal team roles. It will be the same robust leadership and hockey knowledge that guided his playing career that 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.