2026-27 Toronto Maple Leafs General Discussion | Official: Sundin & Chayka to lead front office

[herman]

He sounds so alive when he's not talking hockey

 

[lamajama]

https://twitter.com/x/status/2082507768141897946

It's just that easy.

Yes Vancouver had great success drafting…

 

[herman]

Yes Vancouver had great success drafting…

https://twitter.com/x/status/1722437617470616009

https://twitter.com/x/status/1722420078153699479

Canucks Mailbag: What’s going on between GM Jim Benning and Judd Brackett?

www.sportsnet.ca

Juolevi was Benning’s choice back in 2016 because the GM wanted a defenceman and loved what he saw from the Finn at the world juniors. He could have chosen Mikhail Sergachev or Charlie McAvoy. Benning is believed to have gone with Brackett’s first-round recommendation ever since.

Subsequent round 1 picks by the Canucks for the duration of Brackett's tenure after getting overruled on Juolevi:
2017: 5th Elias Pettersson (hard to see a better option at this slot; Jason Robertson deep in rd 2 probably wouldn't have been as good with VAN)
2018: 7th Quinn Hughes (hmm, arguably should be 1st overall; Dahlin taller and meaner)
2019: 10th Vasili Podkolzin (missed on Caulfield, Boldy, but Pod got a raw deal on development with Canucks coaching)

 

[herman]

https://twitter.com/x/status/2083683885041304051

Won 2 Cups with the Penguins as their Director of Conditioning, and most recently was involved as a Consultant for the Panthers.

Signs pointing towards a Bryan McCabe hire?

 

[L K]

I think it's pretty clear that Haley being a part time employee was why they split from each other. I don't think there is any "irony" there Steve.

 

[herman]

Additional notes

The Leafs are paying big money to bring in Andy O’Brien as strength and conditioning coach. He’s well-known in the industry as Crosby’s longtime trainer. That’s a good thing. What’s not such a good thing: The Leafs fired conditioning coaches Louis Rojas, Artie Hairston and Trevor Bartoli on Friday, basically too late for any of them to likely find a job for the upcoming NHL season

 

[herman]

https://twitter.com/x/status/2084293220180349334

Official now. O’Brien has been involved with NHL teams since Matthews entered the league and has picked up 4 Cups during that span.

He joins the Leafs as VP of Sport Performance

Joining O’Brien’s staff are Dr. Craig Slaunwhite as Director, Health and Performance Integration, Jason Martin as Head Strength and Conditioning Coach, and Josh Crouse as Assistant Strength and Conditioning Coach, while Dr. Jordan Shallow will join as Human Performance Consultant.

Given how everybody broke down last season (Olympics compressed schedule, right after the 4 Nations compressed schedule notwithstanding), it was inevitable there would be changes made here in an area of particular interest to Chayka historically.

Wooing Andy O’Brien successfully is quite the coup.