Maple Leafs hire Mats Sundin, John Chayka in leadership reset

The Maple Leafs answered their latest collapse with a front-office gamble that blends nostalgia and analytics. Toronto hired Mats Sundin as senior executive adviser of hockey operations and John Chayka as general manager on Sunday, a move designed to steady a franchise that missed the playoffs for the first time since the 2016-17 season.

The overhaul comes after Toronto finished 32-31-13 and was eliminated on April 3, 2026, following a 4-1 loss to the San Jose Sharks. Brad Treliving was fired on March 30, 2026, and Brendan Shanahan’s contract as president and alternate governor was not renewed on May 22, 2025, leaving the Leafs without the layered leadership structure that defined much of the past decade. During Shanahan’s tenure, Toronto won only two postseason series and lost six straight Game 7s since 2018, a record that made patience impossible after another season built around championship expectations.

Sundin’s role is advisory rather than operational, but his presence carries real organizational weight. He played 13 seasons in Toronto from 1994 to 2008, appeared in 981 games, and remains the franchise’s all-time leader in points and game-winning goals. The 55-year-old, who was the first European-born player selected No. 1 overall in NHL draft history when Quebec picked him in 1989, was elected to the Hockey Hall of Fame in 2012 and named one of the NHL’s 100 Greatest Players in 2017. He has never held a formal management job, which makes his return as much a cultural signal as a staffing decision.

Chayka’s arrival gives the Leafs the hockey-operations experience Sundin lacks. The 36-year-old became the youngest general manager in NHL history when Arizona hired him at 26 on May 5, 2016, and he was later promoted to president of hockey operations on July 12, 2017. He spent four seasons with the Coyotes, guided them to one playoff berth and resigned in 2020. His return to the NHL suggests Toronto is willing to entrust a crucial rebuild to an executive known for modern roster thinking, even after his last run in Arizona was defined by turbulence as much as by promise.

The deeper question is who now controls the hockey direction in Toronto. With no president in place and Shanahan gone, the Leafs are leaning on a narrower chain of command, with Chayka running the day-to-day hockey operation and Sundin offering support on culture, player development and leadership. The club spent about a month searching before settling on the pairing, and it plans to introduce the new leadership group at a news conference Monday at 1 p.m. ET. For a franchise that has not reached the top of its sport since 1967, the reset will be judged quickly, and by the only standard that matters in Toronto: whether this finally produces playoff wins.