The Toronto Maple Leafs have been an absolute mess of a franchise. For the past few months, they have been trying to hire a full-time general manager. Of all the choices, they went the incompetent route. The Maple Leafs have hired John Chayka as their GM, and it’s the definition of incompetent.
John Chayka’s Tenure With The Coyotes Was A Mess
The Arizona Coyotes hired Chayka in 2016, and he became the youngest GM in league history. The two words that come to mind with Chayka are “analytical guru”. The moves that followed were taking bad contracts for picks and getting Derek Stephan’s contract just to get Antti Raanta. Heck, even getting Darcy Kuemper via trade was the best move he made using analytics during his NHL tenure.
It was looking good for the rebuild, but then Chayka, after some time, decided to distance himself from that approach. That moment of change happened in the Max Domi trade. It was a player-for-player trade where Arizona traded Domi for Alex Galchenyuk from Montreal. This was focused more on the idea of a player instead of going off the numbers. Galchenyuk regressed, and Domi thrived in Montreal.
What makes it worse is that Chayka double downed by trading Galchenyuk in another deal to acquire a declining Phil Kessel. This also went against the analytical approach, as the numbers showed Galchenyuk would be a better player than Kessel. What makes this trade even worse is that Arizona sent Pierre-Oliver Joseph to Pittsburgh in the deal. At the time, he was one of the top prospects in their system.
Chakaya went from a guy fully into analytics when making deals to a focus on the idea of acquiring the player. Analytics care about what that player can do for the team now. That’s why a majority of the extensions Chayka was signing, like the Oliver Ekman-Larsson one, were super questionable. It resulted in the Coyotes being in cap hell during his tenure in the middle of a rebuild. The only reason they made the playoffs was because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Scandal That Ended His Time In Arizona
Then came the illegal combine workout scandal, where John Chayka and the Coyotes were hosting an illegal private scouting combine. Why did he do this? To get hockey prospects to work out in shorts and a t-shirt, so they can eyeball their bodies. This is an actual reason as to why the Coyotes decided to do those workouts
Not long after this happened, Chayka chose to resign as the GM in Arizona, knowing his time was done. When the actions of a man result in the franchise losing two draft picks and a one-year suspension, it’s hard to come back from. Despite that, the Toronto Maple Leafs think it’s still a good idea to bring this guy into their franchise.
The Toronto Maple Leafs Are Both Delusional and Incompetent
This hiring basically proves that the Maple Leafs are entering the Pittsburgh Steelers’ level of delusional. They really thought they could compete with the core they had last year. Now they think Chayka is the right man to be the manager of this team. The same guy who mishandled analytics during his time with the Coyotes and brought a tremendous black eye to the sport.
What in the world is this franchise thinking, giving him a second chance when he butchered the Coyotes and got into a scandal so big he was basically blackballed from the sport? This franchise has lost the plot, and Maple Leaf fans have every right to be upset at this move. They should have long dropped the nuke and started a rebuilding process, but even if they do, it’s hard to trust Chayka to build the team.
At least the Maple Leafs have their first-round pick to help build them. Oh, wait, their first-round pick is Boston Bruins property due to the Brandon Carlo trade. Well, at least it’s a Top 5 protected pick? The fanbase needs to pray they win the lottery at this point. It’s gonna be a long time before this franchise actually is good again, because hiring Chayka is the definition of incompetence. This franchise needs new owners because Maple Leaf Sports Entertainment has no idea how to run a hockey team.
