John Chayka, Maple Leafs GM
John Chayka, Maple Leafs GM

After a flurry of moves on July 1, Maple Leafs GM John Chayka discussed his confidence in Sergei Bobrovsky late in his career, the Nick Paul trade, the Jack Roslovic signing, and his depth additions at forward.

In your words, why did you want to get Sergei Bobrovsky under contract for three years, and what do you think he can provide for the organization?

Chayka: Sergei is a real game-changer for us in terms of the stability, the consistency, and the durability. Obviously, the resume speaks for itself. It possibly ends up being the best in that position of all time.

To be able to secure a player like that for this team — which is looking to break through — we feel like it was the right player at the right time; not just on the ice, but certainly off the ice, with the mentorship, the professionalism, and the championship pedigree.

We thought about it from all the different angles. The full package just made a lot of sense. You always have your own opinions, but to actually be able to land a player of that calibre — he is looking to win — says a lot about the organization. It says a lot about the ownership and a lot about the player leadership. He really believes in these guys, which is great.

What gives you confidence in Sergei Bobrovsky’s ability to bounce back after a down year in Florida and continue to play at a high level deep into his 30s?

Chayka: Look, I think it is the body of work. I think it is who he is as a person. I think it is his habits, how he approaches the game, and his body. He is just an impressive guy overall.

As we think about it, if we are going into a Game 7 and we’re thinking about goalies — and how important the position is — is there another goalie we would want in the net for us? The answer would be no. We would prefer to have Sergei Bobrovsky. That was a big part of it.

What makes managers more willing to sign players into their 40s than in the past?

Chayka: I think that every one of those decisions is unique. It is one of one. It is not something I want to make a habit of doing as a general rule.

I would say that Sergei Bobrovsky is not a general person. We are talking about someone who has been at the top of his craft for a very long time, someone who — as I understand it — is obsessive about taking care of his body, what he puts into his body, and everything involved with performing at the highest level.

We felt comfort that, among our whole goalie group, he has shown durability. We think he is really motivated to come into the largest hockey market in the world. It is important to him that he finishes his career strong. We think that is a common goal we can both get around.

You’ve spoken about flexibility and optionality throughout the offseason. How did those concepts inform the team strategy as you added several depth forwards in Teddy Blueger, Colton Sissons, Nick Paul, and Brandon Duhaime?

Chayka: Good question. We did a lot of buying and selling over the last month. At times, it may not have made a lot of sense in terms of individual moves. As we thought about the bigger picture and what we want to create, it all kind of fell into place for us.

It is not just about putting a roster on paper. It is about putting it into action on the ice. We felt like we got a lot of different elements to the game that we can then give our coaches now — the flexibility to create a lineup that we feel is now deeper, faster, bigger, heavier, and guys have some roles. We certainly feel like we are a better hockey team today as a result.

What message do all of the moves send to the locker room, the fan base, and your captain?

Chayka: Well, certainly, a player of Sergei Bobrovsky’s calibre sends a message that we are serious about moving this team ahead, getting back on track, and trying to take it to another level. Everyone from him to the depth signings that bring us a lot of different elements and allow our players to be put in different positions — where they can have their talents come out in the best way possible — is a full picture.

We needed to get better in terms of the defensive side of the game. We needed to address our penalty killing. And we needed to bring some more speed to the lineup. If you look at the full picture, we are a much more dynamic team today than we were 24 hours ago.

There were reports earlier in the day that the Leafs were showing interest in Zach Werenski. Can you gauge the interest you may or may not have had in not just specifically him, but further upgrading the blue line?

Chayka: I think our blue line is in a pretty good place overall. I would say that I can’t comment on any specific players, but as a general theme, we were able to put this roster together by actually adding futures, if you look at it.

For us, we maintain our future flexibility and capital. As players become available or there are opportunities we want to pursue, we maintain the flexibility to pursue those things. That was a big part of this. We want to be the best possible team we can be this year, but also continue to build for the future and build some capital to then add to this team at the right time. We think we achieved that today.

How would you assess the job that you and your staff did on July 1? There are a lot of older players on short-term deals. What is your take on what you were able to accomplish compared to your hopes and expectations entering the day?

Chayka: I think we got a lot done. Full credit to the team. Mats Sundin was amazing — super helpful and super thoughtful guy. I obviously knew him, but to go through this experience with him was new. Incredibly important sounding board for all of us.

Ryan Hardy — a guy I didn’t know, honestly, coming into this; I knew his background and the program he built, but I am really impressed. He helped a ton with some of these key players with his knowledge. I think he is a future GM in this league. Again, I didn’t know him before this. We are very grateful for his work on this.

We needed to make some significant changes to the roster construction, I’d say. As I said, we had some roles we needed to fill, and we needed to create some depth. Certainly, through the spine of our team now, we feel a lot better about our center position through the defense. Obviously, we added Raddysh a little earlier, so it doesn’t feel like the free-agent piece, but it truly was. Now, our portfolio of goalies, we feel great about.

Any time you can enter a season feeling better about the “spine,” it makes you feel like you have a baseline you can build off of.

Can you provide a little more insight into the Nick Paul and Dennis Hildeby trade? Hildeby played pretty well for the team last season. How long have you been eying Paul? How easily did the deal come together?

Chayka: I’d say we scoured the center market. It is one of those positions where you never want to be caught in a position where you don’t have enough. Certainly, as we came in here, we felt like we needed to be better. We pursued everything.

Nick was a guy who, candidly, we weren’t sure was available. It is a good hockey trade. Julien BriseBois has a need and identified Dennis as a guy who can fill it. Obviously, with our setup, the reality… Academically, it makes sense to carry three goalies, and you can do that, but realistically and practically, it is hard. That is not ideal. If you can find a hockey trade that makes sense, that is what we were open to.

The combination of Paul, what we think he can bring to the team, the type of player he is, the type of person — our room was really excited about the potential of that opportunity.

With AA, and the way he performed in the playoffs, he grabbed the net there. We think he is as good a goalie prospect as there is in the league. That gives us a lot of faith in the future of our goaltending, and certainly, with Sergei and Anthony today, we feel like we have a great goaltending pipeline now.

Do you envision Jack Roslovic receiving a look with Auston Matthews?

Chayka: It is a possibility. He is a bit of a Swiss-army knife, right? We like him up the middle, too. He has actually performed quite well there, especially as his game has matured over the years.

He is a great skater who is great through the neutral zone. He is a guy who has a history with Auston, so that certainly helps. The right shot was an important part. If you look at our lineup from last year and our inability to create offense in certain situations, we really felt like the over-indexed lefties were a problem. The fact that he is a right shot, and with Auston and John are up the middle, these are different options for the coaching staff.

Everyone kind of looked quickly and said, “What does this look like today on a piece of paper?” Injuries, underperformance, things happen; a move comes up, we move a player, and now we have a hole. The more flexibility we have in the lineup, the better it helps a coach put together the best roster night in and night out. The guy who has flexibility is a helpful attribute.

What do you like about Colton Sissons, Teddy Blueger, and what they could bring to the team?

Chayka: We just felt like we needed depth.

Colton has the abiltiy to win draws. Both are penalty kill guys. They have taken some hard-matchup minutes and done pretty well in those. Certainly, both are high-energy and can play a physical game.

As much as it is about them — and it is — it is also about the top of the lineup and how we can get them deployed in a way that allows them to be at their best as well.

Bringing in guys who have embraced those roles of taking the hardest minutes, are willing to do it, who enjoy it, and have built a career doing it kind of frees up the rest of the roster to do their thing.

Again, it is one of these things where we are trying to find the right fit and the right way to put these pieces together. These are guys we targeted and spent a lot of time on. We feel like they bring this combination of speed, tenacity, and hard work on a consistent basis, night in and night out. I think the fans are really going to enjoy them.

Complete Analysis of the Maple Leafs’ July 1 Transactions

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