John can fire Mats but Mats can’t fire John.
asserted
Mats → fire → John
Think I’ve got that right.
asserted
that → think → ?
Not that either is at risk of quickie termination in this odd couple pairing atop the Maple Leafs hockey operations pyramid, a tandem 20 weeks old in an NHL with no other similarly shared power structure.
asserted
either → share → structure
Thus far, John Chayka and Mats Sundin are marching arm in arm in symbiotic harmony toward a recalibration of the team, with aspirations restored.
asserted
aspirations → march → team
“I honestly don’t know what the contract says, and I’m talking about my own contract here,” says Chayka, sitting alongside Sundin in his wood-panelled tower office.
asserted
Chayka → know → office
“I wasn’t going through the governance of who can fire you,” he grins toward the iconic Leaf.
asserted
he → go → Leaf
“But coming into this, if Mats wasn’t going to do this, I wasn’t comfortable doing it by myself.
asserted
I → come → myself
Anything I’ve ever done has been in partnership and I view this as that, a partnership.
asserted
I → do → that
We’re going to get the job done together or we’re not going to get the job done together.”
asserted
job → go → ?
Sundin packed up his dolls and dishes — along with spouse and three children — moving back to Toronto from Stockholm, where he’d been perfectly content: “I realized if I don’t take this opportunity now, it probably won’t come again.”
asserted
it → pack → opportunity
There are so many decisions that go into running the Leafs — with upward of a hundred people in the hockey silo alone — and the buck does have to stop somewhere.
asserted
buck → be → silo
But the 72 cents to a U.S. buck rests with general manager Chayka.
asserted
cents → rest → Chayka
“Ultimately I’ll have to make the decisions,” he finally acknowledges.
asserted
he → have → decisions
Chayka: “When you’re talking about this binary world, whose decision is it and who’s responsible?
asserted
who → talk → is
Yeah, that’s myself and I don’t shirk that responsibility at all.”
asserted
I → ’ → responsibility
A codicil from Chayka, assessing the collaborative nature he envisions: “I really believe in the power of the room.
asserted
I → assess → room
It would be nice if I was so wise and could come up with all these great ideas and decisions, but if we were relying solely on myself I think we would be in trouble.”
uncertain
we → come → trouble
There was an instant echo of trouble ahead upon Chayka’s unveiling as general manager, a catastrophe of a press conference where he was subjected to an intense third-degree and some downright insults.
asserted
he → be → degree
His wife, sitting in the front row with their kids, looked around in astonishment.
asserted
wife → sit → astonishment
I grew up in the area, so I followed the Toronto media my whole life.
asserted
I → grow → media
I knew what I was getting into when I signed up for the job, truly.
asserted
I → know → job
I affirmatively opted into that.
asserted
I → opt → that
There’s no other place that I would want to be a general manager of a hockey team for.
asserted
I → ’ → team
I’ve loved this team for as long as I can remember.
asserted
I → love → team
Even his most vitriolic critics have to admit that Chayka and Sundin got jiggy with it right away over a summer of consequential shape-shifting for the team.
asserted
Chayka → have → team
Maple Leaf World revolves in a far more astral orbit than the Arizona Coyotes (cum Utah Mammoth), the only other NHL team Chayka has managed and that was six years ago.
asserted
that → revolve → Coyotes
It didn’t end well, but of course it never does.
asserted
it → end → course
“Being the general manager of the Toronto Maple Leafs is obviously vastly, vastly different,” says Chayka.
asserted
Chayka → say → Leafs
“So to have someone like Mats, who has the institutional knowledge of the institution that is the Toronto Maple Leafs, is just irreplaceable.
asserted
that → have → institution
His knowledge of things like the players’ perspective, the game day experience, dealing with the media, what that all means in the grand scheme of things, I couldn’t have guessed that unless we had someone that lived it.
asserted
that → deal → it
In the busy-busy past four months, Chayka and Sundin have extensively reoriented a Leafs team that unforgivably didn’t make the playoffs last spring, primarily by reeling in goaltending luminary Sergei Bobrovsky (his age, turning 38 on Sunday, a contractual gamble), defenceman Darren Raddysh (poised puck movement, heavy right-handed point shot to quarterback the power play), overhauling the bottom-six bracket, and No. 1 draft pick Gavin McKenna, who fell into Toronto’s lap via the draft lottery.
asserted
who → reorient → lottery
And of course incoming coach Jim Hiller, whose less restrictive system might retrieve the offence sacrificed under Craig Berube.
uncertain
system → retrieve → Berube
“As head coach, he had some successes and obviously then he got fired,” observes Chayka of the man who was on nobody’s radar to take the bench boss helm.
asserted
who → have → helm
“He’s had teams that can defend.
asserted
that → have → teams
At the same time, I don’t think he wants to take the stick out of anybody’s hands.
asserted
he → think → hands
I think he’s going to allow for some freedom to do what they do best, but there’s going to be an ask on the other side of that.”
asserted
they → think → that
Andy O’Brien, the Leafs’ new vice-president of sports performance, brings a wealth of knowledge and four Stanley Cup rings to Toronto.
asserted
O’Brien → bring → Toronto
Andy O’Brien, the Leafs’ new vice-president of sports performance, brings a wealth of knowledge and four Stanley Cup rings to Toronto.
asserted
O’Brien → bring → Toronto
Job No. 1 for the yoked stewardship was evaluating what they had and discerning what demanded adjustment.
asserted
what → yoke → adjustment
“We brought in an entire new player performance staff, which brought about other changes,” explains Chayka.
asserted
Chayka → bring → changes
…and 74 more, not listed.
The Aporia
