GM Chayka signs contract extension
John Chayka has spent the last few years identifying players worthy of long-term contracts with the Coyotes.
Now, Chayka has the certainty that he will see those deals through after the Coyotes on Monday signed him to a long-term extension to remain as the team’s president of hockey operations and general manager.
Chayka’s current deal runs through the 2020-21 season, according to a team source.
The Coyotes did not disclose the amount of years on the new extension, billing it only as “long-term,” but it is believed to span several years beyond his current deal.
“I love this city and I love the organization and what we have in place,” Chayka said via a conference call Monday, “and the opportunity to work with (new owner) Alex (Meruelo), that’s a once-in-alifetime opportunity. So far it’s been a great relationship. I think everything starts from the top.”
Added Meruelo in a team-issued statement: “We are extremely pleased to sign John to a long-term contract extension. John is one of the brightest and hardest-working general managers in the entire NHL and over the past four seasons, he has done an excellent job of rebuilding our franchise and transforming the Coyotes into a contender. I am fully confident that John is the right person to lead us moving forward and help us bring the Stanley Cup to Arizona.”
In order to assess Chayka’s impact on the Coyotes since rising to power in 2016, one needs only to look at the active roster. Captain Oliver Ekman-Larsson and Brad Richardson are the only players who were on the Coyotes prior to Chayka’s arrival.
Chayka has also rebuilt the organization’s scouting and player-development departments, as well as the hockey-operations department, which he oversees.
On and off the ice, the Coyotes have taken a leap since Chayka was hired.
The Coyotes were a miserable 2450-8 in 2014-15, the season before Chayka was first hired as assistant general manager. On the heels of a steady climb up the standings in the following years, the Coyotes are now projected by many to contend for a playoff spot in 2019-20.
“I think the key thing is that we’re on the right track,” Chayka said. “We’ve had a solid process and that’s always the main thing. You’re never satisfied until you reach your goals and we want to win a championship here; it starts with making the playoffs.”
Chayka termed his five-year tenure with the Coyotes a “journey,” acknowledging that he’s learned a great deal of lessons since becoming the youngest GM in NHL and North American major professional sports history when he was promoted as a 26-year-old in 2016.
“Anytime you look back on things and evaluate them or reflect on them,” Chayka said, “the journey is the most exciting and fun part about it. It’s been a lot of fun and I’ve had the opportunity to work with a lot of great people. I think the infrastructure we have in place, and obviously that starts with Alex now as the majority owner, you don’t win unless you have that. From him down to our scouting staff and how we go about doing business there, down to our Tucson staff and all the work everyone does there, it starts in all different areas and filters up
The Coyotes play the second end of a back-to-back on the road when they take on the Blues on Tuesday in St. Louis . ... The Blues, who captured the Stanley Cup last season, have won seven in a row and have not suffered a loss since Oct. 26. ... Coyotes goaltender Darcy Kuemper is expected to get the start on Tuesday . ... Coyotes winger Clayton Keller scored his third goal of the season on Monday in Washington, D.C. and down.
“It’s one of those things where we had an underperforming team and wanted to work our way back and continue to earn everything we get. This is only a part of that. We’re certainly not at our peak yet, but we’ve got a lot of good things going for us and this is an opportunity to continue that.”
More than anything else, the extension is an opportunity for Chayka to see his vision through. Chayka recently signed players such as Ekman-Larsson, Clayton Keller, Nick Schmaltz, Jakob Chychrun, Christian Dvorak and others to long-term extensions themselves, so the GM now has been afforded the chance to see how the decisions he’s made play out.
Those decisions also include a number of trades, including controversial swaps like the deal that brought Schmaltz to Arizona but sent former No. 3 overall pick Dylan Strome to Chicago — or the trades of former firstround picks such as Max Domi and Pierre-Olivier Joseph, two players included in two separate deals that eventually resulted in the Coyotes landing Phil Kessel this offseason.
Prior to joining the Coyotes, Chayka co-founded and served as Director of Hockey Operations at Stathletes Inc. since 2009. Stathletes is a hockey analytics firm that tracks data through an intensive video analysis process and breaks down the game to provide objective insight into player and team performance tendencies.