The Official Post-Bitch 2025-26 Regular Season Thread
- Thread starter zeke
- Start date
Preston
MBow30 alt account
LGM should love Chayka, considering every old boys club member seems to despise him.
In fairness, the analytics group despises him too. I'm not sure anyone likes him. It might be the only bridge there is between old school and new school hockey folks.
I'm not sure how this isn't gonna be incredibly entertaining to track though. So much better than some generic long-term cracker hockey executive.
In fairness, the analytics group despises him too. I'm not sure anyone likes him. It might be the only bridge there is between old school and new school hockey folks.
I'm not sure how this isn't gonna be incredibly entertaining to track though. So much better than some generic long-term cracker hockey executive.
CH1
The Artist Formerly Known as chiggins.
I'm gonna defend Chayaka here. He got his job with the Yotes way too young. Zero experience doing GM like things. Zero experience doing anything, really. He had graduated from university just a few years prior.
I'm not sure how much support he had internally...but one thing I'm sure of...he was hated by all his peers who on average were twice his age and had earned their role the "old fashioned way"
I'd wait to hear what he has to say in his presser, and more importantly, what his first few moves are before getting too negative.
I'm not sure how much support he had internally...but one thing I'm sure of...he was hated by all his peers who on average were twice his age and had earned their role the "old fashioned way"
I'd wait to hear what he has to say in his presser, and more importantly, what his first few moves are before getting too negative.
Preston
MBow30 alt account
That's all I want. No matter who they hired, we weren't gonna know much about the guy. They were clearly not interested in the Doug Armstrong types. Whether it was Ari Gold, John Chayka, Tyler Dellow, Ryan Martin, Scott White.. we don't really know where their heads are at and while it's fun to fire off hot takes before we hear them speak, we're just kind of making uninformed assumptions. I want to know the structure, the decision-making process, the actual plan and John's early diagnosis of the roster, who else they're going to hire to support John, etc. Until we know that stuff, we're just guessing.
hockeylover
Well-known member
my bigger concern than Chayka is Pelley imo bc we have every indication he’s a complete imbecile and I want as much insulation as possible between him and hockey ops
leafman101
Well-known member
I just want a GM that has “computer terminals” , even if some are decoys, so that he can figure out it’s dumb to sell the farm for guys like Carlo and Laughton,tell the scouts to draft any big RHD in the first round, and that a 43% xG means the coach sucks etc etc.
CH1
The Artist Formerly Known as chiggins.
valid concern but that will be Sundin's job... I don't think Pelley is gonna tell Sundin what to do, especially at the start
LeafGm
Well-known member
You’re not going to get it.
There’s a reason that Pelley’s apparent preferred management set-up is a guy who’s never worked any job aside from playing in the NHL 20+ years ago, plus a guy who was probably never going to get another interview from an NHL team again until Pelley came along.
He wants the leverage and power to be able stick his beak in when he feels like it.
Preston
MBow30 alt account
Keeping this GM search this opaque is kind of backfiring from a PR perspective a bit here. Fans are just assuming it's pure doom and gloom and that they don't have a plan and that everyone they hire is going to be dumb, the process is dumb, their interviews were dumb, etc. All because we don't have enough information, so fans are going to fill in the blanks on the little information that they do have. And these are Leafs fans who are coming off a horrific season, with a bizarre Pelley presser, so obviously those blanks will be filled with pure misery and darkness.
Feyd
Well-known member
No info but also when was the last time this org actually made the right hires and executed the process properly? Feels like the final step will be the pentagram / candlelit ritual at center ice infusing the spirit of Harold Ballard into Ed Rogers (if that hasn't happened already)
Preston
MBow30 alt account
Oh I'm not knocking the fans. They have every reason to assume the worst.
The one bit of info that I'm leaning on and the reason I'm not as gloomy as I was when they hired Tre, is because Pelley (as bizarre as he is) stressed the importance of the one single thing I care about: being data driven. As long as they make decisions backed up by data, we're going to experience a significant upgrade on the last GM.
leafman101
Well-known member
Leafs fans are justified to be doomy and gloomy after what they did to our Core 4 era. We’ve gotten here purely through organizational incompetence, and Pelley has to wear plenty of it. Skepticism is warranted.
But ending up with a nerd GM and Mats Sundin is peaking my optimism. I was preparing for what the Canucks are doing until the “data driven” press conference. A willingness to hire a nerd that was blackballed is actually really sticking his neck out there.
But ending up with a nerd GM and Mats Sundin is peaking my optimism. I was preparing for what the Canucks are doing until the “data driven” press conference. A willingness to hire a nerd that was blackballed is actually really sticking his neck out there.
CH1
The Artist Formerly Known as chiggins.
It’s not that different than the Habs GM search — started with 8-10 names before getting reduced to Darche/Briere/Hughes
The difference here is that you’re filling both positions together. Most orgs would have decided to hire a POHO first and then let that person hire the GM
LeafGm
Well-known member
I think Eddie Rogers Jr is almost certainly already a shitty enough person all on his own that he doesn’t even need a Harold Ballard poltergeist for help.