UPDATE – The Leafs win the Draft Lottery and will select first in the 2026 NHL Draft.
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The Toronto Maple Leafs held a press conference on Monday afternoon to announce the hiring of former Arizona Coyotes GM John Chayka and Hockey Hall of Famer Mats Sundin as the club’s new management team, but that was about all we learned about the hierarchy of the club. The presser, staged across the street from Scotiabank Arena, devolved into a morass of corporate buzzwords and double-speak, as well as a tour de force of incompetence by MLSE boss Keith Pelley.
If you thought that Pelley’s availability following the firing of Brad Treliving was bad, the display put on at Monday’s event said, “hold my beer”. Let’s see, Pelley was asked why he chose Chayka over a field of 27 other candidates.
“We were incredibly impressed and encouraged by John’s vision that he shared with us during the process, we then conducted extensive due diligence that confirmed what we already believed about John’s capabilities. We are incredibly confident in where we landed.”
Nice corporate answer, but what was the vision, and why was he the right man for the job? That vision is the reason that you hired him instead of someone like Stars’ Assistant. GM Scott White, so it has to be a whopper of a plan.
The centerpiece moment of the presser was the question from Steve Simmons of the Toronto Sun, saying that after talking to about 20 people who work in the NHL, one was supportive of the hiring of Chayka, and the other 19 thought it was a sham and that the new GM was described as “con artist,” “liar,” and “salesman”, to which Pelley replied…..
“I must have talked to different people.”
After that, the conclusion that almost everyone should draw is that Pelley is clearly out of his element and should never be allowed to hold a press conference involving the Leafs again. He makes former Sabres GM Kevyn Adams seem like a smooth public speaker.
The other confusing moment was in response to the Toronto Star’s Rosie Dimanno, asking for clarification on who is in charge and who reports to whom. Chayka was named General Manager of Hockey Operations, and Sundin the Senior Executive Advisor of Hockey Operations and after some pontificating, Pelley said that Chayka was in charge of the day-to-day operations of the club, but would collaborate with Chayka.
First, Pelley and Rogers contorted themselves to not name a Team President, because they have been determined to eliminate all of them with the NBA’s Raptors, TFC, and the Leafs after Brendan Shanahan’s contract was not renewed, but it sounds like Chayka was given the power and both the GM position and the double-secret team presidency, with Sundin being placed as a PR beard, a shield against criticism because he was a great player.
The words “due diligence” were uttered so often that if it were a drinking game, you would have died from alcohol poisoning. Pelley refuted the issues involving the Arizona Coyotes being penalized a first and second round pick and Chayka being suspended a year by the NHL for talking to another team about a job while still being employed, and reports that former Leaf Tie Domi was integral in the hiring of both Chayka and Sundin.
The most important item that was discussed but to any conclusion was the status of Auston Matthews. It is clear that the Leafs and Rogers want to keep their franchise center and team captain, but he has to be sold on the vision that Chayka and Sundin have put forth. According to Chris Johnston of the Athletic, that decision is still up in the air. Whether that vision includes head coach Craig Berube has yet to be determined, but the fact that he has not already been fired lends itself to the probability that Pelley made keeping Berube (who has two years remaining on his contract) a prerequisite for getting the job.
My opinion is that Chayka was the wrong hire and was brought in for all the wrong reasons, but that does not preclude the possibility that he could do a good job. Sundin has a lot of gravitas and currency in Toronto, and that goes a long way, but he will have to have a positive and impactful effect on the club and not just be a designated presence on the dais.
As for Keith Pelley, the best thing for him is to just disappear.
