It’s now been over two weeks since the Vancouver Canucks relieved Patrik Allvin of his duties as General Manager and began their search for his replacement. While initial reporting suggested the team hoped to find their next regime before May 5’s NHL Draft Lottery, that does not appear to be the case.

While this was taking place, another Canadian team was conducting its search for a new front office. And on Sunday afternoon, the Toronto Maple Leafs announced they have found their new regime.

The Maple Leafs shared on their social media that they have named John Chayka as General Manager, and hired franchise legend Mats Sundin as Senior Executive Advisor of Hockey Operations.

Chayka was named general manager of the Arizona Coyotes in 2016 at the age of 26. He served in that role with the Coyotes for four seasons, during which the Coyotes posted a 131-147-38 record under his leadership. Chayka resigned from his position in July of 2020 and was later suspended from working in the NHL until the end of 2021 after he and the Coyotes were caught hosting a private scouting combine for draft prospects, which is prohibited under NHL rules. As punishment, the Coyotes were forced to forfeit their 2020 second-round pick and 2021 first-round pick.

Two moves highlight Chayka’s work in Arizona. In 2017, Chayka traded a fifth-round pick to the New Jersey Devils in exchange for Scott Wedgewood. Wedgewood struggled in his brief stint with the Coyotes, posting a 5-9-4 record, a 3.45 goals against average and a .893 save percentage in his 20 appearances.

A few months later, Chayka flipped Wedgewood and forward Tobias Reider to the Los Angeles Kings for Darcy Kuemper. Kuemper went on to play his best hockey in Arizona. Over his four years in the desert, Kuemper went 55-48-15 in his 121 starts, posting a 2.43 goals against average and a .920 save percentage.

Fast forward to 2019, and Chayka made his biggest splash as Coyotes GM. He traded Nate Schnarr, Nick Merkley, Kevin Bahl, a 2020 conditional first-round pick (Dawson Mercer) and a 2021 conditional third-round pick (traded) for Taylor Hall and Blake Speers.

Hall played well with the Coyotes, scoring 10 goals and 17 assists for 27 points in 35 games. This move helped the Coyotes snap their seven-year playoff drought. Arizona defeated the Nashville Predators 3-1 in the qualifying round but could not stack up against the Colorado Avalanche, dropping their first-round series 4-1. Hall would later walk in free agency, but taking that big swing for a player one year removed from a Hart Trophy was something we hadn’t seen from the Coyotes in some time.

While these two moves were positive ones, Chayka’s time as GM of the Coyotes is not remembered fondly. He has not been working in the NHL since his suspension ended in 2022. Instead, he was serving as CEO of JKC Capital, a firm that operates Wendy’s and Tim Hortons in Canada.

To lessen the angst among Maple Leafs fans, the organization brought in franchise legend Mats Sundin into the mix.

Originally drafted first overall by the Quebec Nordiques in the 1989 NHL Draft, Sundin was then traded to the Maple Leafs in the summer of 1994. It was a massive trade that saw Wendel Clark, Sylvain Lefebvre, Landon Wilson, and the 22nd overall pick (Jeff Kealty) in the 1994 draft, in exchange for Sundin, Garth Butcher, Todd Warriner, and the 10th overall pick (Nolan Baumgartner).

Sundin went on to play 13 years and 981 games for the Maple Leafs, serving as the captain for 10 of those years. During that time, Sundin went on to score 420 goals and 567 assists for 987 points. Those totals remain the highest in Maple Leafs history. He held the goal record of 420 until this past season, when Auston Matthews broke that record.

But of course, Sundin wouldn’t end his career in Toronto. In the summer of 2008, Canucks GM Mike Gillis offered Sundin a two-year, $20 million contract. However, that, of course, was not the contract he wound up signing.

In December of 2008, Sundin signed an $8.6 million contract with the Canucks for the remainder of that season. It took Sundin a while to get his feet back under him, tallying just three points in his first nine games. But then things started to click, and Sundin finished the remaining 32 games with seven goals and 18 assists for 25 points, bringing his Vancouver totals to nine goals and 19 assists for 28 points in 41 games.

Oddly enough, fast-forwarding to present day, Sundin was hired over the Canucks GM who signed him 18 years ago. Gillis was reportedly a candidate for the Maple Leafs job. But instead, Toronto opted for the CEO of Wendy’s and Tim Hortons, along with a franchise legend, over a GM who took the Canucks to Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Finals in 2011.