TORONTO \u2014 The Maple Leafs introduced their new front office of GM John Chayka and senior executive adviser Mats Sundin in a Monday afternoon news conference.<\/p>\n
And well, it was interesting.<\/p>\n
Here were some of the major takeaways:<\/p>\n
Chayka sidesteps questions about past<\/p>\n
Chayka declined to directly address the circumstances that led to his suspension from the NHL for the calendar year in 2021 or the Coyotes forfeiting a first- and second-round draft pick for violating the combine-testing policy, two missteps that have been prominent in criticism of the Leafs hire.<\/p>\n
Chayka has not worked in the NHL since leaving Arizona.<\/p>\n
\u201cI made decisions I\u2019m proud of, and I\u2019ve also made mistakes that I\u2019ve learned from,\u201d Chayka said in his initial remarks. \u201cI\u2019m human. I own all of it, and I\u2019m better because of it.\u201d<\/p>\n
When later asked about his suspension and the team being penalized for unauthorized testing of draft-eligible prospects, Chayka pointed to the instability around the franchise at the time. The Coyotes ended up relocating to Utah four years after Chayka left.<\/p>\n
\u201cArizona was a really complicated situation, and it was the biggest challenge I ever took on in my life,\u201d Chayka said. \u201cIt was honestly the hardest thing I ever did and also in a lot of ways the most rewarding. I took it on at a very young age, met a lot of great people. We\u2019re really proud, that group, of keeping the Coyotes in Arizona in my tenure \u2026<\/p>\n
\u201cAs I move forward, it really teaches me the value of stability. To no one\u2019s fault, there was just a lot of work being done to find a new arena, find new ownership, et cetera, and as those things happen, there\u2019s a lot that gets missed. And so, the value of stability, the value of alignment, are two key tenets that I take from that.\u201d<\/p>\n
After Chayka resigned from the Coyotes in July 2020, both he and the organization were hit with sanctions by the NHL: Arizona forfeited a first- and second-round draft pick for illegally testing draft prospects during his tenure, and Chayka was forbidden from taking a job in the NHL in 2021 for \u201cconduct detrimental to the league\u201d after he was found to have spoken with the New Jersey Devils about a job while still under contract to the Coyotes.<\/p>\n
Asked about whether the NHL sanctions raised red flags, Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment President and CEO Keith Pelley responded: \u201cI\u2019ve already said I did deep due diligence. So I\u2019ve read all of the reports, I\u2019ve talked to numerous people \u2014 I won\u2019t reveal who I\u2019ve talked to \u2014 that were close to the process. We\u2019ve done extensive due diligence, and I\u2019m very comfortable and very confident in where we landed.\u201d<\/p>\n
Chayka went five years and 10 months between NHL jobs.<\/p>\n
Pelley said he had \u201cno concern\u201d about the gap in Chayka\u2019s NHL resume or his knowledge of the league and was sold by his vision.<\/p>\n
Pelley again referred to due diligence in deflecting a now-viral question by Toronto Sun reporter Steve Simmons about Chayka\u2019s credentials and character.<\/p>\n
The new structure\u00a0<\/p>\n
Pelley provided few details on many questions, including why the team didn\u2019t put someone in a president\u2019s role atop the organization. Chayka will be the one reporting directly to Pelley, with Sundin serving in an advisory role.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a different structure, but I think it\u2019ll be a winning structure,\u201d Pelley said. \u201cI think we\u2019re in for a real treat.\u201d<\/p>\n
Pelley said that in the interview process neither Chayka nor Sundin raised any questions about titles. \u201cThey only talked about goals,\u201d he said, \u201cand that\u2019s winning the Stanley Cup.\u201d<\/p>\n
Berube\u2019s future<\/p>\n
Asked if he was open to bringing Craig Berube back as coach next season, Chayka replied: \u201cYes, of course.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s hard to find great coaches,\u201d Chayka went on. \u201cHe\u2019s a great coach.\u201d<\/p>\n
The new Leafs GM said he had a brief conversation with Berube on Sunday evening and planned to meet with him, alongside Sundin, later in the week.<\/p>\n
Berube has two years remaining on his contract.<\/p>\n
Asked how he, with a background in data, could justify possibly keeping Berube given the numbers the Leafs had in a number of categories last season under his watch, Chayka said, \u201cI think that data is one part of the puzzle. You need to look at what a coach is given. You need to look at what he\u2019s good with. And I think you gotta take an entire holistic view of things.\u201d<\/p>\n
In his early assessment of the roster, Chayka said the Leafs needed to improve their blue line this summer.<\/p>\n
The Auston Matthews question<\/p>\n
Chayka plans to meet with team captain Auston Matthews in the next couple of weeks to lay out a vision with \u201cconcrete steps\u201d on how the new front office intends to turn things around.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is our job to sell him on what we\u2019re capable of in reaching the ultimate goal, because I know that that\u2019s what\u2019s most important to him,\u201d Chayka said. \u201cI think he deserves some answers about where we\u2019re at and where we\u2019re headed and give him the forum to provide feedback and ask questions and then take it from there.\u201d<\/p>\n
While acknowledging that there is a \u201cgap right now between where we are and where we\u2019d like to be,\u201d Chayka said that he was hopeful the team could turn things around in relatively short order with a \u201chigh hit rate\u201d and creativity this offseason.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe certainly feel like we\u2019re well-positioned with a core group,\u201d he said. \u201cWe have some players that are some of the best players in the world that wear this sweater, and it\u2019s on Mats and myself to put in place the structure and the principles and give them the resources to go out and accomplish our goals.\u201d<\/p>\n
Chayka noted that improving the team\u2019s defensive play is a top priority and will require a \u201cchange in the mix or change in the strategy.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"TORONTO \u2014 The Maple Leafs introduced their new front office of GM John Chayka and senior executive adviser…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":648222,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[49,48,448,82,746],"class_list":["post-648221","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-nhl","tag-sports","tag-toronto-maple-leafs"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/648221","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=648221"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/648221\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/648222"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=648221"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=648221"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=648221"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}