The Toronto Maple Leafs introduced John Chayka as their new general manager and Mats Sundin as the new senior advisor of hockey operations in a press conference on Monday afternoon.
Chayka last worked in the National Hockey League with the Arizona Coyotes and returns to the Leafs after nearly six years out of the league. He replaces Brad Treliving, who was fired on March 30, near the end of his third season with the team.
Sundin spent 13 seasons with the Maple Leafs, including 10 as captain, but has never held a management role in the NHL.
Speaking to the media on Monday, MLSE president and CEO Keith Pelley outlined why the organization believes the new tandem can turn the club around after missing the playoffs for the first time since 2016.
“When we identified an opportunity to go in a different direction and bring two complementary hockey minds like John and Mats together, we jumped on it,” Pelley said. “These gentlemen are totally focused on bringing the Stanley Cup to Toronto. Big decisions will be collective. On a day-to-day basis, John is the general manager of hockey operations, but it will be collaborative throughout the entire process.”
Chayka became the youngest GM in NHL history in 2016 at the age of 26 when he took over the Coyotes. He was suspended from working in the NHL for the 2021 calendar year for what commissioner Gary Bettman called “conduct detrimental to the league and game” and also said that he “breached his obligation to the club” for pursuing new opportunities around the league despite having three years remaining on his contract.
Pelley brushed off concerns about Chayka’s past and explained why the organization landed on him as the team’s 19th general manager.
“We’ve done extensive due diligence, and I’m confident in where we landed,” Pelley said. “We were incredibly impressed and encouraged by his vision that he shared during the process. He’s methodical, and he’s measured.”
Chayka has yet to speak to captain Auston Matthews, but outlined that Matthews is part of the core group of players that puts the Leafs in a good position to improve next season.
“This team has a lot of latent upside. Lots of opportunity to get in there and do better with the internal group. But there are some holes and fundamental ways in which we’re going to have to change the team,” Chayka said on Monday. “It’s incumbent on us to put the best team on the ice that we can. We certainly feel like we’re well-positioned with the core group.”
Sundin, who is the Leafs’ all-time leading scorer with 987 points, led the team to the Eastern Conference Final in 2000 and 2002.
The Hall of Famer was asked whether or not the culture in the Leafs’ dressing room needed to change but said he could not give an answer until he gained first-hand experience with the players.
“I haven’t been in there, so that’s an impossible question to answer now. Everyone talks about a good locker room, but they don’t know until they’re actually in one to know if it’s a winning one,” Sundin said. “Any team that’s winning has a strong locker room and has a buy-in into a vision that they’re going to reach together.”
