General manager John Chayka of the Arizona Coyotes speaks during a press conference to present Taylor Hall (not pictured) at the Gila River Arena on December 18, 2019 in Glendale, Arizona. (Photo by Christian Petersen / Getty Images)
John Chayka is out as general manager for the Arizona Coyotes, The Athletic’s Pierre LeBrun reported for the first time on Sunday, saying that Chayka terminated his contract with the team more than 48 hours before Sunday morning. The news comes after reports that Chayka’s relationship with the league soured due to another job opportunity.
Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman said assistant GM Steve Sullivan, who also served as GM for AHL Tucson Roadrunners, will take over as GM on an interim basis at least.
The team declined to comment when contacted by Arizona sports.
According to Friedman, the Coyotes were approached during the pandemic about a job opportunity elsewhere for Chayka, and the team gave him permission to explore it. When it became clear that he could leave the organization, the Coyotes rejected the idea of him leaving.
According to Friedman, a source said: “It was not a lateral movement. He was not going to be the general manager of another NHL team. “
Craig Morgan said the opportunity was out of hockey entirely.
“The two sides discussed the possibility of a ‘transition period’ in which the general manager would remain for the remainder of the Arizona season,” Friedman wrote, “but the talks fell apart.”
The news comes after days of speculation about Chayka’s job security, who reportedly was not present at a meeting involving owner Alex Meruelo, Meruelo’s son, Alex Jr., CEO Xavier Gutiérrez and the agent. free Taylor Hall. Conflicting reports clouded the nature of Chayka’s omission at the meeting.
Chayka was the Coyotes’ general manager since May 2016, when he became the youngest general manager in North American professional sports history at the age of 26.
Chayka’s departure is surprising when viewed through the context that she received a long-term contract extension less than a year ago, in November 2019. Morgan reported that the contract extension lasted until 2023-24.
Meruelo took over as owner last summer, and this year, the organization replaced CEO Ahron Cohen with Gutiérrez, a move that could be explained by the theory that the new owner simply wanted to bring in his own executive to run business operations.
The general manager signed Oliver Ekman-Larsson, Jakob Chychrun, Clayton Keller, Nick Schmaltz, Christian Dvorak and Darcy Kuemper to hire extensions, to name a few. He also made many exchanges throughout his tenure with the organization, especially for Phil Kessel and Taylor Hall, the former of whom did not perform as expected by most accounts and the latter is a pending free agent.
Whether Chayka was able to see the true result of his work is up for debate, but the current list is largely his own task. The team has been one of the best defensive teams in the NHL and the worst offensive teams in the NHL in the past three seasons. Any conclusion drawn from that information is up to the viewer.
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