5 items Maple Leafs GM John Chayka must address this summer
On his first day on the job, GM John Chayka was given some good fortune as the Toronto Maple Leafs won the NHL draft lottery. But there are still major questions that Chayka must answer this off-season.
5 items Maple Leafs GM John Chayka must address this summer originally appeared on The Sporting News . Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here . The Toronto Maple Leafs have their new upper-management structure in place with Monday’s hiring of new GM John Chayka and senior executive adviser of hockey operations Mats Sundin.
Chayka spoke about hitting the ground running, and he and Sundin will need to make important decisions right out of the gate. What are those decisions? Here’s what we see as the five things Chayka and Sundin have on their to-do list: 1.
Be decisive on coach Craig Berube’s future Chayka spoke well of current Maple Leafs coach Craig Berube on Monday, but he stopped short of being definitive regarding Berube’s future in the role. But if we judge previous statements made by MLSE CEO Keith Pelley, we’d be leaning on Berube keeping his job – at least, to start the regular season. If the Leafs wait late into the off-season to decide whether to keep Berube or cut him, they risk leaving him without a coaching job if there is uncertainty about his fit with the team.
It would be better to fire him now. The other downside of waiting too long is that a great candidate like former Vegas Golden Knights coach Bruce Cassidy could be hired by a different team (say, the Edmonton Oilers ). This is why time is of the essence in deciding Berube’s future.
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