There is no doubt that when the Maple Leafs announced the joint hires of John Chayka and Mats Sundin, there was a sort of general bafflement amongst the fanbase. That’s observational, that’s anecdotal, but from what I’ve seen and heard, the consensus seems to show an intense curiosity about two main questions.
How, and why, did the Leafs end up making the particular choices they did?
The third question, “How is this going to work,” will get fleshed out in Monday’s press conference (Sportsnet.ca, 1 p.m. ET / 10 a.m. PT). As for the dozens of other questions, well, we’ll pick through those as time gets on.
This time around, the justifications for the choices hired to run the Maple Leafs cannot include “experience,” as Sundin has yet to have any in a front office, and John Chayka had just four years as a GM (and one as an assistant), and they didn’t go great. There were extenuating circumstances that are relevant — his age, the stability of ownership and more — but for now we’ll just leave it as “limited experience with some controversial moments.”
That doesn’t mean the years ahead can’t go well, but there’s just no denying here that the track records aren’t long.
But I also don’t think it’s all bad. The Leafs seem to really like Chayka, and it’s presumably not because they’re fond of losing. They legitimately think this can work, and so I’ve tried to see what they’re seeing, and there’s definitely a few angles past the discourse of “Tie Domi likes these guys” from which this could be successful.
Here are six thoughts on the whole situation:
1. The Leafs didn’t hire a president, but they at least replaced the hockey-related absence of Brendan Shanahan
On Real Kyper and Bourne, I’ve been advocating for the Leafs to hire another president, as I felt it hurt Brad Treliving not having the Hall of Famer around every day to bounce around roster thoughts. Shanny was at damn near every game, practice and morning skate — and even though the Leafs had several AGMs last year, it couldn’t be as useful as having a big-picture guy around on a daily basis.
Mats Sundin may have not been given the title of president, but he can at least be the big-picture guy I’m referencing. I’m less concerned with many of the other details of what a president may do (though I still think they’d benefit from one), but really I just wanted another set of experienced eyes on the team day in, day out. So, Sundin can be that.
2. Chayka has the underdog advantage
Whatever happens over Chayka’s tenure, whenever it’s over and however it’s over, there’s no doubt it will be fair to write then that “he came in amidst rampant skepticism.” Hell, there’s already an article out there about him and tampering and he’s just taken the job. All eyes will be on this guy. That will always have been the backdrop for his tenure in Toronto.
Odd as it sounds, I see it as an advantage over just about everyone else who’s taken over this team.
Brian Burke came in and immediately made promises about what the team would be, Brendan Shanahan and Lou Lamoriello offered Hall-of-Fame pedigree, Kyle Dubas came with the flair of a boy wonder, and even Brad Treliving was a well-known hockey guy taking over a team already near the top of the league. The second each was hired, fans expected a shortcut to the Stanley Cup.
Given the perception of his hire, as long as Chayka doesn’t start out by promising immediate success, every competent move seems like it’s going to come as a pleasant surprise to the fanbase. Stacking baby wins and not making glaring errors can slowly change minds. There’s a reason coaches in every sport going into a new series will argue for their team’s status as the underdog. We know Toronto is a high-pressure environment, but I honestly think everyone’s initial skepticism of Chayka will take some of the pressure off the guy. Am I skeptical too? Yeah of course, I think the facts insist on some skepticism here. But because of that, Chayka’s got that old “nobody believes in us” advantage of a 12th-seeded college basketball team in March Madness, and he could use the lack of expectations to build more slowly.
3. Will Chayka (and Sundin) have the heart to be ruthless?
At the end of the day, Chayka is the one who’s going to have to report to MLSE president Keith Pelley and bear the brunt of the final calls, so that’s why I’ve got Sundin in brackets there. But for awhile now, it’s been said that the Leafs need some tangible changes, including many people who think the coach should go.
In the past, this idea of “I need to evaluate everyone” before making decisions — namely with Treliving and the Mitch Marner contract situation — has really hurt the team. You just need to know the lay of the land on Day 1. Where the team is at is not proprietary information — it’s not hard to follow along with their contracts, it’s all very public. And so if you’ve followed the team at all — which presumably Chayka has if they’re hiring him — you know you can’t move forward with the same people in every role.
So is he going to get hired and start by letting people go? By making trades? The draft is in a month, so how soon will hard conversations be had with Morgan Rielly, Max Domi and others? I actually kinda like that there’s news out there that he’s already been in contact with people under contracts, as he’s clearly ready to get going immediately. I’ll take that over “I just need to come in and look around and get the lay of the land.”
4. The Leafs need someone who’s always looking for an angle, and that seems to be Chayka
Say what you will about all the Chayka drama from Arizona, the one thing you can’t take from the guy is that it seems like he’s always got an idea, or an angle, and that’s just about exactly what I’ve been saying the Leafs need now. They’re in tough and need to get creative about how to add. They can’t just do the paint-by-numbers “add UFA on UFA day” and “trade guys on trade day” stuff they’ve been doing.
Chayka made 24 trades in four years with the Arizona Coyotes, he took on bad money to get other assets, he put together deferred contracts, he was just open to other ways of doing things. And if you look at this here, you can see how many of the very good teams in the league are built these days.
Time for the Leafs to get tradey.
5. The Leafs really just wanted Sundin involved
When push comes to shove, I don’t think Sundin is going to be making the hard personnel decisions, and I think the organization protected him from intense scrutiny with the title “Guy who’s going to be around every day” or whatever it is exactly (OK fine, it’s senior executive advisor).
What this feels like to me: they didn’t want to hire a full-on president, and just wanted to stick with GM only. But they wanted it to be an unproven guy with some baggage, and for both those things, Sundin is the perfect antidote. That’s not to minimize his ability to help the team and organization — of course they really wanted him — but I think it allowed the Leafs to get their guy, while at the same time keeping fans happy. It allows them to have someone to focus on the stuff I mentioned in point one: the big picture, the culture, the franchise direction. “The brand,” if you will.
They got Sundin, which allowed them to get Chayka.
6. The Leafs’ fork in the road
Chayka and Sundin are taking over at a time when the franchise is at a pivotal crossroads. They’ve got two aging superstars and enough talent and goaltending to be competitive. They also finished fifth-last this past season.
For the players at the fringes, I see what Carolina has done, and wonder how different things could be for the Leafs if they had added guys like William Carrier and Eric Robinson and Taylor Hall and Sean Walker and Shayne Gostisbehere (instead of Brandon Carlo and Calle Jarnkrok and Dakota Joshua and Max Domi and Matias Maccelli).
Well, the Leafs believe they have their own analytics guy now to improve in those spots, and they’ve got their culture guy, and so they think they can get Auston Matthews and William Nylander and Matthew Knies back in the mix.
Whether that’s true or not, well, stand by. It’s happening, and we’re off on the beginning of a new chapter of the Toronto Maple Leafs. Whether the book is an adventure with some great triumph at the end, or a tragedy, well, everyone’s got their opinions on that. For Chayka and Sundin, the good news is those opinions don’t matter much. The work starts now.