Leafs Front Office 2026 | Official: Sundin & Chayka to lead front office

[mr grieves]

In his six seasons of junior, his 5 seasons overseeing the AZ AHL team and 5 seasons overseeing the AZ NHL team, he has won only one AHL playoff round that I could find. He's never won any championship or tournament in hockey as a player or executive that I could find.

So his career facts support the question "is this the best the Leafs could do?" as not being an unreasonable question.

As a Leafs fan, I hope for the best and that he's successful. But I can certainly understand the concern and pessimism as it is well founded.

I wonder if it’s as simple as this guy wasn’t in a position to demand a hefty salary or POHO organizational power, and Pelley wants to run it on the cheap and with ownership involvement. Chayka responded more positively to all that than the 26 other people they looked at.

 

[CarltonTheBear]

I wonder if it’s as simple as this guy wasn’t in a position to demand a hefty salary or POHO organizational power, and Pelley wants to run it on the cheap and with ownership involvement. Chayka responded more positively to all that than the 26 other people they looked at.

I think if we're trying to look at it from this type of angle my guess would be it was less about salary and more about Sundin's involvement. It's quite clear Pelley and/or MLSE wanted Mats involved in a big way before the true "search" even happened. I wouldn't be all that shocked if at least part of the season Chayka was ultimately picked was because for right (they have a prior relationship) or wrong (others didn't want to share the spotlight with an executive with zero experience) reasons he was the best fit with Sundin.

 

[Bill_Berg]

Maybe they wanted a ruthless GM and Chayka was the guy and they brought Sundin in to try and legitimize it. It also seems to me that Sundin will be focused on locker room culture. This guy is good/bad feedback to Chayka.

 

[cw]

I think if we're trying to look at it from this type of angle my guess would be it was less about salary and more about Sundin's involvement. It's quite clear Pelley and/or MLSE wanted Mats involved in a big way before the true "search" even happened. I wouldn't be all that shocked if at least part of the season Chayka was ultimately picked was because for right (they have a prior relationship) or wrong (others didn't want to share the spotlight with an executive with zero experience) reasons he was the best fit with Sundin.

There was quite an interesting exchange with Chayka - I believe (not positive) that it was with Friedman. The question was something to the effect of "when collaborating with Sundin, what if Mats says 'that is a bad idea' ?" Chayka quickly and bluntly replied "then the idea is dead" (or something like that).
That suggests Chayka is head of hockey operations but Sundin has a veto.
That surprised me from the way they talked about the structure and Sundin's title. Sundin's real title might be "Advisor with veto power"
They appear to have some real shackles on Chayka. In some ways, given his track record, that is probably good. In other ways, it probably won't last when the pressure comes down - like it didn't with Dubas.

 

[Bill_Berg]

I saw that interview. It implied to me they need consensus between the two. Hopefully Mats has to justify his veto/opinion.