Toronto Maple Leafs CEO Keith Pelley introduced John Chayka and Mats Sundin as Toronto's new management team on Monday, gambling on a duo with much to prove.
It didn't matter who Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment CEO Keith Pelley hired to run the Toronto Maple Leafs.
There will always be criticism of every significant hiring. The media-savvy Pelley was fully aware there would be areas for concern, regardless of who he handed the Leafs' reins to.
In Monday's press conference announcing former Arizona Coyotes GM John Chayka as Toronto's new GM – as well as Leafs legend Mats Sundin as Toronto's senior advisor of hockey operations – Pelley had to face the tough questions right away about Chayka's history of discipline.
"We've conducted due diligence, and it was deep due diligence," Pelley told Steve Simmons after the Toronto Sun columnist said 19 of 20 people around the league he spoke to did not support Chayka's hiring at Monday's press conference. "It was a thorough process, and I'm quite happy with where we've landed."
To be sure, Pelley's gamble on the Chayka and Sundin tandem could blow up in his face. There's no guarantee they will work well together, and the round-the-clock coverage of the Leafs will put every move they make under a massive microscope.
But while it's fair to question the direction, we can see what Pelley thought when he hired the duo.
Yes, Chayka earned the wrath of the NHL years ago when he resigned one day before the playoffs, earning a suspension for all of 2021. The Coyotes were also penalized for violating the league's combine testing policy while Chayka was GM. But in the eyes of MLSE, Chayka could be seen as pushing the envelope in terms of the limits on GMs.
That desire to win at all costs could be viewed as a net positive. Chayka also pushed the envelope in a good way when he took advanced analytics to another level while managing the Coyotes.
Chayka said all the right things when he briefly spoke at the press conference about learning lessons and being human.
"The city's been waiting a long time for its 14th championship," Chayka told reporters. "Our responsibility is to build something worthy of that patience. Toronto, I say this with every ounce of conviction in my heart, it's time. Let's get to work."
Chayka didn't deserve to be a pariah in the hockey business for being a young, inexperienced GM, and he now has the chance to show he's a smarter executive than the one who left Arizona.
Meanwhile, Sundin will bring the on-ice credibility that Leafs players like Auston Matthews and William Nylander will want to see out of the front office.
Sundin will ultimately defer to Chayka, the team clarified Monday. But when you have one of the greatest players in Leafs history willing to relocate from his Swedish home back to Toronto on a full-time basis, you have to believe Sundin isn't just there to be a figurehead, handing out Leafs merchandise at fan events. He wants to be there for all the important decisions.
While Sundin doesn't have the managerial experience you'd ideally want for someone in a position of power, he also doesn't have a track record for failure. You could've said the same for Montreal Canadiens coach Martin St-Louis when he took over the Habs' bench, and that relationship has turned out spectacularly in Montreal's favor.
Pelley no doubt saw the potential Sundin has to be part of the solution in Toronto, and Sundin – always a master of handling the Toronto media – spoke Monday about his belief in the new management structure, which won't have a president of hockey ops.
"I have knowledge and experience from being a player here, from being a captain here," Sundin said. "Great organizations also learn from earlier generations on what's been done well, and maybe mistakes that you don't want to repeat. So I think with that experience, I hope to contribute at all the levels, in terms of players, coaches, people in the dressing room, but also with management… I feel really fortunate to be able to work for MLSE again, and especially for this fan base, who I think we all think deserves better."
In sum, you can see why Pelley made the choice he did, even if Chayka and Sundin don't have the ideal amount of experience and success that many fans and observers are looking for.
But at this time next year, there needs to be real, positive direction for this Leafs team, otherwise Chayka and Sundin's interactions with the press will become even more contentious for them than Monday's press interaction turned out to be.
The Maple Leafs have been a boat moving in the wrong direction for a while now. It's up to Chayka and Sundin to prove to everyone that Pelley made the right choice.
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