{"id":636740,"date":"2026-04-29T16:31:05","date_gmt":"2026-04-29T16:31:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/636740\/"},"modified":"2026-04-29T16:31:05","modified_gmt":"2026-04-29T16:31:05","slug":"if-sundin-agrees-to-leafs-job-chayka-sundin-will-lead-the-new-management-group","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/636740\/","title":{"rendered":"If Sundin agrees to Leafs job, Chayka-Sundin will lead the new management group"},"content":{"rendered":"

There was a very brief update from Elliotte Friedman about the Leafs\u2019 executive search on his Oilers NOW<\/a> segment on Tuesday night, but it was a bit of a bombshell: \u201cWe are waiting for Mats Sundin\u2019s decision. I believe, if he says yes, it will be a John Chayka-Mats Sundin combination.\u201d <\/p>\n

The cynical angle on this report, if true:<\/p>\n

Mats Sundin, mostly beloved in Toronto, will arrive in possibly a POHO-type role in part to run some PR cover for Keith Pelley\u2019s hiring of an individual widely viewed as a pariah in the hockey community due to his highly controversial exit from the Coyotes \u2014 one that involved allegations from team ownership about a bad-faith pursuit of another job opportunity while under contract (certainly, this is a two-side-to-the-story situation, without much credibility on the Coyotes\u2019 ownership side, either), as well as an illegal draft combine event leading to the forfeiture of significant draft capital (a\u00a0red flag). Messy divorce aside, Chayka\u2019s Coyotes tenure was a mixed bag, he may have flirted with a possible conflict of interest while employed there<\/a>, and he hasn\u2019t worked in NHL management in over five years, while Sundin hasn\u2019t worked in NHL management ever. This is the best they could come up with, with all of MLSE\u2019s resources at their disposal?<\/p>\n

The more optimistic spin:<\/p>\n

The Leafs<\/a> are going a more unconventional route than the Brad Treliving regime, leaning into a data-driven decision-making process with an iconic Leafs<\/a> legend at the head of hockey ops alongside an analytics-savvy, outside-of-the-box thinker as GM \u2014 one with half a decade of experience running his own team, who was just 26 when hired in Arizona, and who has certainly evolved since then. Former President Brendan Shanahan, whatever you might\u2019ve thought about the ultimate lack of playoff results during his reign, started as a playing-days legend who was a relative novice from a team-management experience POV, and he initially oversaw a successful rebuild in Toronto. Sundin hasn\u2019t been able to voice overly candid hockey opinions in the public forum in a Leafs<\/a> alumni capacity, but apparently, he has plenty of passionate ideas about the direction of this franchise for those who talk to him behind the scenes. If he is indeed hired, we look forward to hearing those put on the record in more detail.<\/p>\n

The specifics of the process behind arriving at this reported decision will be revealed in more detail in time, but you can be forgiven for approaching the whole thing with a good deal of skepticism for now \u2014 from the choice of the specific search firm hired, to the pool of candidates they pursued, to the finalists they settled on, to the people conducting the interviews, to the possible choice of Chayka alongside a potentially green POHO (if that is indeed Sundin\u2019s role), to the fact that this would seemingly be an arranged marriage of two Pelley hires (as opposed to hiring a President, getting out of the way, and letting the President hire a GM), to the fact that Craig Berube still technically has his job right now (it should be a given for any new GM to bring in a new head coach, not decide if Berube is the right guy moving forward).<\/p>\n

Certainly, if this is indeed the final outcome and Friedman\u2019s intel is true, it will be an executive search that ends with just as many \u2014 if not more \u2014 questions than answers.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"There was a very brief update from Elliotte Friedman about the Leafs\u2019 executive search on his Oilers NOW…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":636741,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[43,44,41,39,42,40],"class_list":["post-636740","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-headlines","tag-news","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/636740","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=636740"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/636740\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/636741"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=636740"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=636740"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=636740"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}