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

Well all that cap space sure got burned pretty quickly!

I know he's not done yet necessarily, but not having any cap breathing room at this point doesnt seem like a great strategy,and I know Domi could be LTIR and maybe move Reilley etc.

Things that I dont like or agree with so far:

- paying Scissons 2x 4.25
- our top 6 D currently has average age of 33
- selling low on Carlo when he could rebound and you could move him at this trade deadline instead for significantly more
- getting rid of long reach dmen that are effective on PK and more valuable in postseason (Carlo and Benoit)
 
herman said:
So we feel a bit light still on the LD for PK, where Benoit once ate those minutes (and watched a lot of pucks go in).

www.broadstreethockey.com

Emil Andrae defying Flyers’ concerns in AHL shorthanded role

Flyers prospect Emil Andrae was given heavy usage on the penalty kill for the Phantoms last weekend, and he’s carving out a role for himself as an effective player in that role.
www.broadstreethockey.com www.broadstreethockey.com
This might be an internal solution until Werenski; reminds me of Sandin (once again)
Click to expand...
Can we play some forwards on D?

But yeah that's certainly an area of concern as of right now, especially with Stecher likely not being an everyday defenceman. Raddysh, Rielly, OEL, Andrae all didn't really kill penalties with their teams last season.

Hopefully like you said that's something Andrae could develop into, because otherwise he's a defenceman who likely won't have a specialty team role and I'm not too high on those. Then assuming OEL doesn't have as much of a PP role (if Rielly sticks around) he could go back into handling some PK minutes too.
 
CarltonTheBear said:
Can we play some forwards on D?

But yeah that's certainly an area of concern as of right now, especially with Stecher likely not being an everyday defenceman. Raddysh, Rielly, OEL, Andrae all didn't really kill penalties with their teams last season.

Hopefully like you said that's something Andrae could develop into, because otherwise he's a defenceman who likely won't have a specialty team role and I'm not too high on those. Then assuming OEL doesn't have as much of a PP role (if Rielly sticks around) he could go back into handling some PK minutes too.
Click to expand...

Basically, Werenski solves a lot of issues and we should get him and he should come here to have fun with his buddy and reunite with some other former Jackets.

More realistically, maybe Mermis or Rifai stay up as the extra D and rotate with Andrae.
 
Obviously more moves may happen but I'm a little surprised at how log jammed we made the roster.

Top 6/Scorers: Matthews, Knies, Nylander, Tavares
Middle 6/Scorers: Roslovic, Cowan, Domi* (probably should assume he's not playing until proven otherwise)
Bottom 6/Grinders: Sissons, Joshua, Paul, Duhaime, Blueger, Lorentz

That's 13 forwards with Domi/12 forwards without.

That leaves Quillan, Tverberg, Groulx in a position to be a 13th forward or waived. Maybe there is enough hypothetical upside in Tverberg/Groulx to slot into a 3rd line role but I don't think any of them are necessarily catastrophic losses if they don't make the team and go on waivers. I'm just surprised that we aren't leaving a spot open for competition.

It's also a team that is at present over the cap (with 6D, 2G, 14F). It really seems like Domi isn't back...but that also does mean we are really hard on the top 6/bottom 6 makeup of the roster. I like all the moves individually but it feels like the roster is built to be more about being effective at specific things rather than jack of all trades type play. This roster also doesn't have McKenna on it because he hasn't signed his ELC although that should just be a formality.

Bottom line, the biggest chance for success is better goaltending, a more effective PP and Matthews needs to at least get back to being a 40 goal scorer.
 
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herman said:
Basically, Werenski solves a lot of issues and we should get him and he should come here to have fun with his buddy and reunite with some other former Jackets.
Click to expand...
Maybe, he's not exactly a heavy-eating PK minute defenceman either of course. But regardless of that I think that will definitely need to be put on the back-burner for now as he's likely off the market until at least midseason.
 
https://twitter.com/x/status/2072725200823620029
images

7 and 1 look close enough too. It's almost too perfect really.
 
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herman said:
On the face of it, it’s a lot of money for mostly grinders.

But:
https://twitter.com/x/status/2072537480356618300
Committed grinders are far more effective than a committee of players forced to grind.

Coaching last season also had an impact in that their premier skill C was deployed to defend heavily with offense-first wingers who couldn’t perform offense properly.

Will this work better? I think the lines have clearer roles and expectations they can hang their hat on, and there is room within those roles to rotate and elevate and reward performance. At least three skaters can flow between top 6 and bottom 6 roles capably as the situation requires: Knies, Cowan, Paul, and arguably Tavares.

If it fails, most new pieces are very sellable at the deadline to recoup futures (outside of Raddysh). Sheet’s clear for whatever Matthews decides as well.
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It feels like this is the Brian Burke approach, but with better identification around what skillset you need to effectively play that role, so that you don't end up with Colton Orr playing 82 games.
 
Chayka appeared about 23-4 minutes in for an overview of the offseason so far

Complimentary of Rielly, 'keeping' him.
Good question asked about room for Marlies grads: Chayka said there's room, just gotta show it, and credits ownership with being magnanimous about having salary in the minors.
 
When the Leafs hired Lou, they shut down all talking by front office staff* outside of the GM, Head Coach, and players that weren't rookies. Dubas kept up the practice for the most part; Treliving was a bit more lax in that department heads spoke for relevant moments: Leach on the draft, Dr. Wickenheiser for Dev Camp.

Looks like Chayka/Sundin have loosed up that policy a bit more.

Chayka and Brackett spoke for the Leafs at the draft this year (run by Leach).
Marlies GM Ryan Hardy spoke with TSN on a variety of Leafs (not strictly Marlies) topics.
https://twitter.com/x/status/2073020437777334509

Given the way Chayka has talked about Hardy since his hire (sees him as a GM in the league one day), I am foreseeing an eventual transition to President for Chayka and GM for Hardy.

* Prior to Lou's hire, the Leafs caught some strays when Steve Spott (then assistant coach to Randy Carlyle?) shared a bit too much information during an outside engagement about the team and Kessel. Leaf blogs could get full feature length interviews with an assistant coach previously.
 
herman said:
When the Leafs hired Lou, they shut down all talking by front office staff* outside of the GM, Head Coach, and players that weren't rookies. Dubas kept up the practice for the most part; Treliving was a bit more lax in that department heads spoke for relevant moments: Leach on the draft, Dr. Wickenheiser for Dev Camp.

Looks like Chayka/Sundin have loosed up that policy a bit more.

Chayka and Brackett spoke for the Leafs at the draft this year (run by Leach).
Marlies GM Ryan Hardy spoke with TSN on a variety of Leafs (not strictly Marlies) topics.
https://twitter.com/x/status/2073020437777334509

Given the way Chayka has talked about Hardy since his hire (sees him as a GM in the league one day), I am foreseeing an eventual transition to President for Chayka and GM for Hardy.

* Prior to Lou's hire, the Leafs caught some strays when Steve Spott (then assistant coach to Randy Carlyle?) shared a bit too much information during an outside engagement about the team and Kessel. Leaf blogs could get full feature length interviews with an assistant coach previously.
Click to expand...

I was thinking the same thing last night. I didn't even know what Ryan Hardy looked like before yesterday. It was nice to have Brackett available to speak to the media last week. Someone on the board commented after Brackett was hired we would never see or hear from him again.

The focus is on the on ice product but for some hockey nerds it is nice to hear from the people who are more behind the scenes and a big part of the decision making process. I look forward to development camp every year because we get to hear more from Dr. Wickenheiser than we do the rest of the year.
 
Guru Tugginmypuddah said:
Someone on the board commented after Brackett was hired we would never see or hear from him again.
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That was me lol

He's the other potential GM to elevate if the Leafs want to block a poaching, but Brackett is more of a specialist and Hardy is more of a generalist in terms of their experience/skillset evidenced so far.

Either way, I think Chayka is better suited as a HOHO managing the operational experts, rather than getting super hands on with the nitty gritty research/selection that needs deep, contextual player/market knowledge the way old school GMs liked to. That's basically what he's doing now anyway, relying on the existing executive and operational infrastructure but steering the direction and filtering through Sundin for the Toronto hockey culture vibes check.
 
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This was the first interview I saw of him from five years ago
I didn't see another one since until Chayka took over and the Marlies were on their playoff run

I had forgotten much of this interview so I just watched it again.
What struck me is there is a fair amount of motherhood & philosophy in his remarks. One might conclude "ah, that's just a bunch of generalisms and BS .." But since then, he has proved he meant every single word of what he said there. That is what he did and how he managed.

During the Calder Cup celebration many who worked for him testified that he did what he said he was going to do in that first interview. He had a good relationship with coach John Gruden. He thanked all of his staff by name and singled out particular wives of the players citing examples of how they helped. They even sang Happy Birthday to Benning's son. It was like one big family celebrating.

It was not professionally polished but it was genuine.

EDIT: he was the one who brought out Amirov's jersey ... and he talked about Amirov in his speech
 
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Yeah I've always liked Hardy and was glad he stuck around during the post-Dubas exodus. Especially since as I've said before I really get the feeling that Treliving sort of downgraded his role while he was here in favour of people like Clancey and Doan.
 
Ryan Hardy is a natural builder (good find by Dubas), and the culture and environment that he has nurtured with the Marlies visibly helped them play better than the sum of their parts (TRELIVING signings) and tactics (BERUBE system) when it came down to crunch time.
 
cw said:
A little more housekeeping:

Toronto Sun:
torontosun.com

Why Maple Leafs cut loose Maccelli, qualify Robertson, Andrae, others

Qualifying offers in the NHL were due to be extended to restricted free agents by 5 p.m. on Monday. Read more.
torontosun.com torontosun.com
Click to expand...

I was concerned the above article I posted was not accurate with what it implies
"the following players were not extended qualifying offers: ...
Topi Niemela, and ..., Roni Hirvonen and Semyon Der-Arguchintsev ..."
which implies the Leafs relinquished their rights to these players.

So here is what happened for future clarity:
The Leafs issued qualifying offers by July 1, 2025
Those offers were not accepted so they expired per the rules on July 15th, 2025 along with the players signing elsewhere.
But because the Leafs made the offer, they controlled their NHL rights for the 2025-26 season
In order to continue to control their rights for the 2026-27 season, the Leafs had to make another offer and they did not.

I saw the 2025 qualifying offer on Puckpedia and worried that I may have posted something that was inaccurate
 
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