{"id":621676,"date":"2026-05-03T20:55:12","date_gmt":"2026-05-03T20:55:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/621676\/"},"modified":"2026-05-03T20:55:12","modified_gmt":"2026-05-03T20:55:12","slug":"maple-leafs-officially-hiring-mats-sundin-john-chayka-to-lead-front-office","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/621676\/","title":{"rendered":"Maple Leafs officially hiring Mats Sundin, John Chayka to lead front office"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Toronto Maple Leafs<\/a> announced their new hockey leadership Sunday afternoon, with a media conference scheduled for Monday at 1 p.m. ET.<\/p>\n

The Maple Leafs have hired Mats Sundin, who returns to the organization as Senior Executive Advisor, Hockey Operations. It\u2019s a full-time commitment; he and his family are moving to Toronto.\u00a0<\/p>\n

John Chayka is the new general manager, and no other additions or changes are planned.<\/p>\n

\u201cToday is an important day\u00a0for the Toronto Maple Leafs\u00a0organization,\u201d Maple Leafs Sports and Entertainment president and CEO Keith Pelley said in a statement. \u201cI\u2019m thrilled to welcome\u00a0John and Mats to their roles,\u00a0two great hockey minds that will strengthen our entire hockey club.\u00a0From the start of\u00a0this process, it\u2019s been about building\u00a0a championship-calibre team for our fans and our city and today\u00a0is\u00a0an important step towards that goal.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

One of the big questions is structure: How is this going to work? No doubt more will be explained when they meet with the media, but, as I understand it, the goal is for Sundin and Chayka to present a united front in making decisions. We\u2019re also going to learn more about their history, as, apparently, they first met at the 2012 Memorial Cup. (I asked around on the weekend, there are no plans for Tie Domi to join the organization.)<\/p>\n

Ultimately, however, there must be someone who has the final say and reports directly to Pelley. That is Chayka. The position the organization advertised in its interview process was \u201chead of hockey operations,\u201d and that\u2019s what Chayka will be.\u00a0<\/p>\n

We\u2019ll learn more on Monday, but Sundin\/Chayka is the new duo at the top of the Maple Leafs\u2019 mountain.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m honoured to join the Toronto Maple Leafs\u00a0organization\u00a0and excited to work alongside Mats and the entire organization,\u201d said Chayka in a statement. \u201cThis is one of hockey\u2019s most historic franchises, with a passionate fan base who want to win. I’m focused on building a team that is competitive, driven and relentless \u2014 one that is in the best position to win for our fans and for the City of Toronto.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThis fan base deserves greatness and I am grateful for the opportunity to help this team, organization and city achieve that,\u201d said Sundin in a statement. \u201cMy love for the Maple Leafs and the City of Toronto is an important part of who I am and who I will always be. I look forward to working closely with John as we both recognize the incredible opportunity and responsibility to win here in Toronto.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Toronto Maple Leafs announced their new hockey leadership Sunday afternoon, with a media conference scheduled for Monday…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":621677,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[66],"tags":[385,99],"class_list":["post-621676","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nhl","tag-nhl","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/621676","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=621676"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/621676\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/621677"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=621676"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=621676"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=621676"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}