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Search continues for ideal hybrid, with new GM John Chayka spreading his net wide
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Published Jun 06, 2026 • 4 minute read
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John Chayka (right) is the new Toronto Maple Leafs General Manager and Leaf legend Mats Sundin is the new Senior Executive Advisor as announced during a press conference held at Real Sports Bar & Grill in Toronto, Monday. May 4, 2026. Photo by Ernest Doroszuk /Toronto SunArticle content
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Permissive parenting versus brow beating.
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The Maple Leafs have tried applying both coaching concepts, as have other teams undergoing the ubiquitous ‘change of direction’. But as Toronto stands alone with its NHL-record 59-year Stanley Cup gap, selection of its next coach is more noteworthy in these parts.
Successive generations of Leafs were either coddled or criticized by a wide range of bench bosses. Those contrasts in modern times careened through Pat Burns, Pat Quinn, Ron Wilson, Mike Babcock, Sheldon Keefe and the latest to be let go, Craig Berube.
With the Leafs still unable to clear the playoff hump, what’s old becomes new for fans and media. Case in point, Berube was first sold as the Cup winner who would hand his brightest stars a pick and shovel and make them all 200 foot contributors. Now the narrative is get someone to make the game fun again for Auston Matthews and William Nylander. Which was supposed to happen when $50 million man Babcock was cashed out for Keefe.
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The search continues for the ideal hybrid, with new general manager John Chayka spreading his net wide as promised. From an initial list of 55 who expressed interest, he told media Friday at the draft combine in Buffalo he’s down to about 20 for another round of interviews. Flavours of this week were Peter Laviolette and Patrick Roy (we bumped into Roy’s agent, Gil Scott, at Friday’s Marlie game and could only get him to say “wouldn’t that be something” if the Habs’ goalie great brought his passion to Bay Street).
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Play VideoWHO ARE THE PROMINENT NAMES?
Many suspect Chayka and adviser Mats Sundin are still angling for studious David Carle to jump from the NCAA, but with that apparently stalled for now, it’s on to more familiar NHL backgrounds. As mentioned, picking the lane between tough love and the velvet glove isn’t unique to the Leafs. Were this an exact science all 32 teams would soon be in the winner’s circle.
Yet the angst meter on this hiring gets higher around here, given the Leafs just missed the playoffs, the long title drought and the so-far failed promise of the Core Four from its 2018 inception to the first sign of the quad squad’s break-up when Mitch Marner bailed.
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MAKE THE BEST OF IT
A former NHL coach we spoke to said the difficulty in finding the right person is a reflection of today’s elite performers having more say in a team’s path, usually backed up by their no-movement clause that provides prominent players leverage with a coach.
“But whether the coach likes you or not, I’d tell them to just play the game,” our man said. “It’s adapt or else. Maybe the coach gets fired, but you might end up being traded.”
He’s seen his share of hard-ass disciplinarians cross the competitive line to the unemployment line – and also leniency that allowed inmates to run the asylum.
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“A coach can get too close to his team. Some players will like that, others will see it as favouritism. Similarly with the hard-core coach, he could go after the easiest guy on the club to pick on, but that will get foot soldiers to come to their friend’s defence.”
Whoever lands the Leafs job gets tossed right in a competitive Eastern Conference stacked with eight of the top nine votes for the Jack Adams Award as coach of the year. That included the winner and close runner-up from the Leafs’ Atlantic Division, Jon Cooper of Tampa Bay and Lindy Ruff in Buffalo.
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WHAT HAPPENS IN A COACHING INTERVIEW?
In discussing the general coaching interview process this week on TSN’s Overdrive show, Laviolette recalled how he cycled through six interviews around the league to find work.
“When you go in, teams are looking for a direction of what you think you can bring,” the 61-year-old said. “The (interviews) are a little bit different in how they’re handled, but I think the main point is to be true to yourself, who you are and what you believe in.
“The last thing you want to do is sell a myth or sell something you’re not, then get in there and (have superiors say) ‘wait a minute, I thought we were going to do this or that.
“In an interview, or me with the players, I’ve always found honesty is the best policy.”
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The 2006 Cup winner with Carolina said he approaches each audience like a big game.
“Do your best to prepare for the opposition, their individual players and your best to prepare your own team: power play, penalty kill, 5-on-5.
“That’s the same in life, anything that might come your way, you want to be ready. You want knowledge of the situation, you don’t want to walk in to your new team and say, ‘Hey, what are we doing in the neutral zone?’, and have the team say, ‘I’m not sure, let me go check.’
“You need answers, you need to know what is going on.”
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