In the shadow of bustling Union Station, John Chayka equated the first days for himself and Mats Sundin as "catching a moving train." That is the consequence of Keith Pelley's wonky timetable, going off the board with two unconventional hires: a general manager who was once an NHL pariah, a club legend now far removed from his on-ice element.
One advantage, thanks in part to MLSE CEO Pelley sticking with Chayka's predecessor Brad Treliving and coach Craig Berube, the new brass has a long playoff-free summer to address needed change.
First Priorities
It started the night before Monday's media intro of the duo when the newly appointed 36-year-old Chayka spoke with Berube, amicably apparently, and set up further meetings to get the coach's "perspective" with senior executive advisor Sundin. While the buck stops with Berube on a club-record 30-point drop, cashing him out for several million owed the next two years could well lead to him returning next season and see if coaching really was culpable – or a better candidate comes along. "We'll go through it all," Chayka promised of the Berube summit.
On Tuesday night, Chayka and Sundin get the full picture of the draft situation inherited from Treliving when the NHL lottery takes place. The Leafs could move up from fifth, stay put or the worst-case scenario, fall out of the top five and have this year's pick revert to Boston in Treliving's much-panned 2025 trade for defenceman Brandon Carlo. "I'll look a lot smarter if we win tomorrow," quipped Chayka of the Leafs' 8.5% chance of snaring the No. 1 pick. "The balls will drop and we'll take it from there. We have lots of other picks through the draft. We've got scouting meetings coming up the next two weeks, amateur and pro, the scouting combine (early June) and the draft (late June)."
Chayka Shake Up
A series of ice breaker meetings with players will also commence, topped by Auston Matthews, who has two years remaining on his contract. Ironically, Chayka once ran the team Matthews grew up dreaming to play for, the Arizona Coyotes. That was before Chayka resigned on the eve of the 2020 playoffs in a major spat with ownership, that resulted in lost first and second round picks because of pre-draft testing violations and his suspension for "conduct detrimental to the league" in pursuing another job while with the Coyotes. That team is now in Utah, but the cloud followed Chayka, who remained unemployed in the NHL until now and must win Matthews' trust. "There are moments I'm proud of and I've made mistakes I've learned from," said the one-time youngest GM in the league.
There's belief from Pelley that Matthews wants to stay or at least not repeat Mitch Marner's drawn out departure. And what would it say about team captain Matthews after a decade of being treated like a king in Toronto that he'd want to bail at the first sign of real adversity? "It is our job to sell him on what we're capable of," Chayka said.
Has Sundin Put His Reputation at Risk?
Just five months ago Sundin flew in from Stockholm to congratulate Matthews on breaking his franchise goal record of 420. But as Pelley referenced him on Monday as being part of the last Leaf entry in the conference final, the latter is gambling more than 30 years of goodwill as a player by taking the management hot seat in an undefined role with a fed-up fan base. He's moving his wife and three kids here, too. "I don't worry about the risk," Sundin said. "I have knowledge and experience as a player and captain here. Great organizations learn from earlier generations what they've done well and mistakes they don't want to repeat. With that experience, I hope to contribute at all levels."
This unlikely front-office duo crossed paths at the 2014 Memorial Cup in London, Chayka just starting in management, Sundin there to watch good pal Tie Domi's son Max play for the Knights. Now they're all in Toronto, though Pelley dismissed a report Tie played a role in the executive search. "He's super-knowledgeable about the game, data driven," Sundin said of Chayka. "We complement each other. I've watched every Leaf game (from Sweden) the past 10 years, worked with the national team for a period, covered the Olympics on TV and the prospects' side in Europe. We've watched the team a lot from the outside now, John and I, and there will be a lot of evaluations going on." The same is true for an impatient hockey market judging its new engineers.
