Playing GM: Here Is How I Fix the Leafs

 

Forty-eight hours. That is all it took for the Toronto Maple Leafs to go from the most chaotic front office story in professional sports to the most enviable position in the entire NHL.

On Sunday, Maple Leafs Sports and Entertainment announced the hiring of Mats Sundin as senior executive adviser of hockey operations and John Chayka as the 19th general manager in franchise history. On Monday, both men were introduced at a press conference that turned heated, with Chayka greeted by a fanbase that made its skepticism loudly known. On Tuesday night, the ping pong balls saved everybody.

Toronto, entering the draft lottery with just an 8.5 percent chance of winning despite finishing 28th in the NHL standings, shocked the hockey world and walked away with the first overall pick in the 2026 draft. Sundin was on hand representing the organization when it happened, and the camera caught everything -- the brief look of disbelief, the immediate transition to a wide grin, and the eyebrow pop that suggested he knew exactly what this meant for the franchise he spent 13 seasons building his legacy with.

Chayka, for his part, kept it simple. "Just, yeah, elated," he said.

That about covers it.

How Close It Came to Disaster

The full weight of Tuesday night does not land properly without understanding what was at stake. Had any team leapfrogged the Leafs in the lottery, Toronto would have forfeited the pick to the Boston Bruins as part of the trade that brought defenseman Brandon Carlo to the organization on March 7, 2025. The pick carried top-five protection, which meant one bad bounce and the Sundin and Chayka era would have opened with one of the most damaging outcomes imaginable -- handing a division rival a top draft pick while trying to sell a skeptical fanbase on a new direction.

Instead, they caught the bullet between their teeth. The Leafs needed luck and they got it, and the timing could not have been more significant.

"We needed some luck and we got it tonight," Chayka said. "A long road ahead, of course, and lots of work to do still, but when you get a first overall pick, it is a monumental type of opportunity."

McKenna or Stenberg

The pick itself now sets up one of the more interesting draft decisions Toronto has faced in years. Two names sit at the top of the board. Gavin McKenna, the Yukon-born winger out of Penn State University, is the consensus top-ranked North American skater according to NHL Central Scouting. He posted 51 points in 35 games this season, finishing tied for fifth in NCAA scoring while earning Big Ten Freshman of the Year honors. Before making the jump to college hockey, he put up 129 points in 56 games with Medicine Hat in the WHL the prior season and was named both WHL and CHL player of the year.

Chayka made clear he has had his eye on McKenna for some time. 

"The skill level, the creativity, his puck ability, and his shot release is all pretty special," he said. "It is a good package."

The alternative is Ivar Stenberg, the Swedish forward ranked first among international skaters by Central Scouting. Stenberg posted 33 points in 43 games for Frolunda in the Swedish Hockey League this season, the most points by an 18-year-old in that league since Daniel Sedin and Henrik Sedin accomplished the feat in 1998-99. Sundin, who knows Swedish hockey better than anyone in the organization, noted that Stenberg has had a strong season at every level including the World Junior Championship, and will likely add to his resume at the World Championship in the coming weeks.

Beyond the top two forwards, the draft class features a strong group of defensemen with franchise-defining upside. Chase Reid out of Sault Ste. Marie in the OHL, Carson Carels from Prince George in the WHL, Keaton Verhoeff out of North Dakota, Daxon Rudolph of Prince Albert, and Latvian blueliner Alberts Smits, who became the youngest player at the 2026 Winter Olympics at just 18, all project as potential top-pairing options at the NHL level.

What This Changes and What It Does Not

McKenna's arrival in Toronto changes the atmosphere immediately. A fanbase that was bracing for a painful retool now has a generational talent to project onto, and that buys Chayka and Sundin time and goodwill they desperately needed after a rocky introduction. Auston Matthews, entering the final two years of his contract, now has a tangible reason to believe this organization is building toward something real rather than treading water around him. A first overall pick is a far more compelling pitch than anything Chayka could have offered walking into that conversation empty-handed.

There is also the historical irony worth noting. The last time the NHL Draft was held in Buffalo was 2016, when the Maple Leafs used the first overall pick to select the same player who is now their captain. Matthews and McKenna in the same uniform, drafted from the same building ten years apart, is the kind of storyline that writes itself.

But the honeymoon will be brief. McKenna arrives in the most pressure-filled hockey market in the world, on a team that still needs a puck-moving defenseman, a second-line center, and a reliable goaltender more urgently than it needs another young forward. He will be expected to be great immediately, and the margin for a slow start in Toronto is essentially zero.

The lottery win bought the Maple Leafs a door to hold onto in very cold water. It is better than nothing. It might even be enough.

Now Chayka and Sundin have to prove they can build the boat.

Toronto Maple Leafs | Gavin McKenna | NHL Draft Lottery 2026 | John Chayka | Mats Sundin | NHL Draft 2026 | Maple Leafs GM | Ivar Stenberg