Weekly Takes - Monday, May 4th Edition
Weekly Takes - Monday, May 4th Edition
I know fake outrage draws clicks and listeners, but can people relax on the negativity around John Chayka?
“He quit his job because he wanted to go work for another team and the Coyotes said no!” Who cares? The Maple Leafs were talking to Mike Gillis before firing Brad Treliving. Why is the employer allowed to back-channel but the employee is not? I could not care less about this, nor do I question his character at all because of it.
The prospect scandal was a bad mistake by him – no question – but it happened years ago. Why are so many labeling this as career suicide?
The reality is, he was a very young general manager working for a toxic owner in an unstable market. If Chayka has learned from his mistakes and experiences, I think hiring him is a high-upside move given how he views the game.
The other fake outrage narrative that makes me laugh is when the likes of Jeff O’Neill blab that “this is the Toronto Maple Leafs, how is John Chayka on top of your wish list?”
Maybe it’s because he interviewed the best among the candidates that were interviewed? I am so tired of the smug ignorance that hovers over this franchise and I am glad Keith Pelley is pivoting away from it.
I do not need the Leafs to hire a flashy name. Brian Burke was the flashy name. Lou Lamoriello was a flashy name. Kyle Dubas and Mark Hunter, for what they were, were flashy names. Enough with trying to flex who you hire. Just go and hire
whoever you think is best fit. The Leafs do not need to “win” hirings or press
conferences.
They have won those my entire life. Go win a Stanley Cup.
The other fake outrage narrative that blows my mind is when people mock Pelley and MLSE for hiring a search committee, only to land on Chayka and potentially Mats Sundin.
Sorry that they hired a search committee, as almost every major organisation does in 2026? That does not mean they needed to land a name that the public deemed “sexy” enough.
This is where hiring Sundin comes up big, however.
MLSE and Pelley will get blowback for hiring Chayka, as the Steve Dangle’s of the world have already decided that he is an awful person and what he did at the age of 26 represents who he will be for the rest of his life.
Sundin understands the market as well as anyone. It is going to be on him to spin the narrative in the short-term.
Reality is though, the only way to truly spin the narrative is to have a great offseason and win games come October. If that happens, Chayka will be loved and the fake outrage police will go quiet.
5. Make no mistake about it though, the Sundin-Chayka press conference is going to be important.
Sundin, because we have no idea how he views the game. We will learn a lot about what he thinks.
Chayka, though, because he needs to own up to his past. For better or worse, his reputation is what it is. He needs to change that.
6. The Oilers are lucky at the loyalty Connor McDavid has provided them, because nowhere along the way have they built a team even remotely respectable enough for him.
They wasted a prime season of McDavid by trotting Tristan Jarry and Connor Ingram out in net. How is Stan Bowman still employed?
7. In baseball, it is tough for front offices to stand out, because everyone has access to all the same data, the rich teams will get the star players, etc, etc.
But what Ross Atkins has done for the fringes of the Jays’ roster is incredible.
The entire bottom quarter of their roster was acquired in trades that no one cared about/minor league contracts.
8. The Raptors should be proud with the steps they took this season, with Scottie Barnes and Collin-Murray Boyles showing their level of stardom and Darko Rajakovic showing that he truly is the right coach for this team.
But that does not mean they are not very flawed. The Raptors flaws being exposed is as important of a takeaway as the positive takeaways mentioned above. They have no true centre, a weakness at point guard, and one too many starting wings who cannot shoot threes at a consistent enough clip.
The goal should be to trot out a lineup like this come October:
Immanuel Quickley - RJ Barrett/Brandon Ingram (trade one) - Scottie Barnes - Colin Murray-Boyles - Blank
Jamal Shead - Ja’Kobe Walter - Jamison Battle - Sandro Mamukelashvili (have to re-sign) - Blank
As I said was the case the second they traded for Ingram, I just do not see the fit in a playoff series with both Barrett and Ingram in the starting lineup. The emergence of Murray-Boyles has only made the fit worse.
Jakob Poeltl has to be traded, even if that means attaching multiple picks. Gradey Dick is unfortunately done too – the only true draft pick miss in recent memory.
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