John Chayka is a bad idea, Scott White is the mystery box, and AGM fallout: Leaflets
Is it too early to start complaining about how wide open the playoffs seem to be this year and how just getting in gives you as good a chance as anyone (other than the Colorado Avalanche) at winning it all?
Anyone but Chayka
Is it fair to judge someone based on how they did with the Arizona Coyotes? There are a number of players who wouldn’t want to sign for a team that was constantly on the verge of bankruptcy or being kicked out of their arena. A team that seemed be a free space on the no trade list, and a team that had a half-empty building most nights. Can you judge John Chayka for not making it work there?
When it comes to Chayka, the Leafs should be very familiar with his results. His biggest contract that he hadn’t out was to Oliver Ekman-Larsson, who was the captain while he was there. It was Ekman-Larsson’s prime, but that contract which was ultimately bought out after being traded away at negative value is on him.
Let’s talk about the suspension and forfeiting of draft picks. Chayka thought it would be a good idea to hold his own private draft combine. The league understandably frowned on that and made him pay. He did that with Coyotes in resources, I don’t think it’s out of the realm of possibility he would do worse with the Leafs resources.
There was no marquee signings to speak of. Alex Goligoski was about as good as it gets. And to be fair that you can hang a little on it being the Coyotes, but there was significant step forward roster wise on his watch and aside from drafting Clayton Keller and Jacob Chychrun in his early days as GM when he was handed two first round picks to work with, his biggest draft success story was probably Matias Maccelli, the only mid-round or later pick from the Chayka era that surpassed 200 games played.
Given that Stathletes, Chayka’s analytics company, prides itself on data from every league and can inform smart draft decisions, Chayka himself seemed inept at using the data he was supposed known for. The Coyotes were primed to be hockey’s Moneyball story instead Chayka helped turn the club into the Oakland A’s in other ways.
Data is only as good as the person using it, and Chayka might be able to make a fancy looking report but he’s not the guy you want making the decisions with it. He’d be a huge mistake for the Leafs.
Scott White is the mystery box
Not much has been said about Scott White, but given that in many ways it seems the GM race is down to White and Chayka, the mystery box has an allure and with no GM experience to speak of, it’s a lot harder to complain about where he stands on things.
A first time GM has some appeal because there is hope there. There’s hope because White comes from a well run organization, the Stars have made a lot of smart decisions and like me, they seem to have an affinity for Finnish hockey players. That gets him some points.
Like so many of the candidates the Leafs have interviewed, White has experience running the AHL team for his parent club and has done a solid job of that, that’s why he’s been doing it for almost two decades. Giving the guy a look couldn’t be a bad thing compared to some of the other options, but I’m not sure you can make a case for being excited about him either. He just doesn’t come with the baggage of the previously mentioned option.
A few days ago, I expected to be writing about how I wanted anyone but Chris Pronger for the Maple Leafs front office, but John Chayka might have put him in perspective, and frankly any candidate not named Peter Chiarelli in perspective. The Leafs could do worse and taking a chance of Scott White might be the most inspired choice for Keith Pelley.
What about Pridham?
Pridham, from most accounts, seems to be ready for that next step, but the Leafs wanting fresh eyes on the team is also something that could be beneficial. You want some knowledge transfer from hockey operations leadership to the incoming group, but that doesn’t necessarily need to be Pridham, and you’d hope the Leafs aren’t holding him back from pursuing any opportunities that he thinks are best for him.
The same is true of the other AGMs.
Sometimes having someone reporting to you who thinks they should have your job is a bad idea and it will be interesting to see how the front office of the Leafs shifts over the summer.
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