Maple Leafs hire Mats Sundin, former Coyotes GM John Chayka to lead front office

The Toronto Maple Leafs have landed on a new brain trust.

The Original Six franchise looked both forward and back Sunday, naming ex-captain Mats Sundin as its senior executive adviser of hockey operations and John Chayka as general manager.

The moves mark a reset of the club's front office after a season that ended with Toronto missing the playoffs for the first time since 2016.

Toronto fired GM Brad Treliving in March, near the end of the disastrous campaign for the Maple Leafs, who entered the season among the Stanley Cup favourites back in September.

The club also did not replace president Brendan Shanahan after he was let go in May 2025.

Sundin and Chayka arrive with the organization still searching for its first Stanley Cup since 1967.

A news conference is expected Monday.

The Maple Leafs' all-time leader in points and game-winning goals, Sundin had a complicated Toronto exit in 2008 before a brief stint with the Vancouver Canucks, but remains a fan favourite for his 13 seasons in blue and white.

The 55-year-old Swede, who was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 2012 and returned home to start a family after retiring, has never held a formal management position in the game.

Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment president and chief executive officer Keith Pelley said the organization was focused on a "data-centric" approach for the hockey operations department at a press conference following Treliving's dismissal.

"They have to really understand data and the importance of data and where data is moving," Pelley said at the time.

That's where Chayka likely comes in.

The 36-year-old became the NHL's youngest GM when he was hired by the Arizona Coyotes a decade ago. His time in the desert was marked by an