Report: Maple Leafs New Front Office Duo Chosen, Final Negotiations Underway

John E. Sokolowski-Imagn Images

The names have been on everyone’s lips around Leafs Nation the past few weeks. From a franchise icon to an upstart analytics nerd. It sounds like the duo of Mats Sundin and John Chayka will make up the new Toronto Maple Leafs hockey operations department.

Insider Elliotte Friedman revealed the news on his 32 Thoughts podcast on Wednesday morning. It’s going to be a Sundin/Chayka front office, once the final details get hammered out. And it all starts with the large role that Sundin will be taking on. That is contrary to earlier reports that the Leafs legend was merely going to be a ‘figurehead’ or hold an ‘advisory role.’

I believe there was a lot of misdirection about what the Maple leafs were asking Mats Sundin to consider.

My theory…should this happen…is he’s gonna be the Vice President of Hockey Operations. It took some convincing, but I think they’re now actually negotiating with him to do it.

The main impetus, of course, is that Sundin, effectively, bleeds Blue & White. He could restore some of the lost luster to the battered Maple Leafs brand.

“If you look at Sundin, it’s very clear he’s proud to be a Maple Leaf,” Friedman said. “He loves the team. He loves the organization. He’s come back several times and spoken up in defense of the players and just talked about how much of a privilege it is to wear that jersey and represent the organization.”

Given that their current captain, Matthews, isn’t quite the rah-rah type, and still hasn’t committed beyond the two years left on his deal, having a franchise icon at the top could go a long way to re-establishing respect around the franchise.