What legacy does Chayka leave?
Departed exec leaves a project half-built
When John Chayka took over the Coyotes’ hockey operations department in 2016, he viewed the organization as a startup. After a year on the job, Chayka began changing everything from the way the team would travel to the way they train and what players eat before and after a game.
“Quite frankly, I did view this as basically a startup,” Chayka told The Republic back in 2018. “We had to build out the infrastructure and the people. We had limited pieces we felt were longterm solutions.”
Chayka provided every indication that he planned to instill and execute a long-term plan with the Coyotes. But somewhere along the way — amid frontoffice turnover, a new majority owner and a global pandemic — something changed that led to Chayka’s exit from the organization.
Now, with Chayka no longer working out of his Glendale office, what’s left is a city half-built — the pieces put in place on which Chayka will never get to put the finishing touches.
After co-founding the sports analytics firm Stathletes in 2009, Chayka joined the Coyotes in 2015 as a 25-yearold with no experience in a formal hockey operations setting.
Regardless, Chayka entered the job with a two-pronged approach: Making pragmatic decisions based on all available data, and building personal relationships inside and outside the organization.
Those relationships were something Chayka took with him from Stathletes, where he worked closely with players he would later manage such as Max Domi and Conor Garland. Chayka’s ability to build rapport with players would go a long way in negotiating long-term contracts with the now-core pieces of the roster.
In his first few years on the job, Chayka slowly began to build something in his own image. His first draft, in 2016, yielded two current Coyotes mainstays in Clayton Keller (No. 7 overall) and Jakob Chychrun (No. 16).
The 2016 offseason featured a foundational free-agent signing in defenseman Alex Goligoski, one of the top blueliners on the open market. The Coyotes would finish the 2016-17 season just one point out of last place in the Pacific Division, and it marked the end of an era for two iconic Coyotes figures.
Not only would this mean the departure of head coach Dave Tippett, but it also led to an awkward breakup between Chayka and longtime captain Shane Doan. The two met for breakfast after the season where Chayka told Doan he would not be receiving a contract for the 2017-18 campaign.
The optics of this — an inexperienced 27-year-old GM telling the club’s all-time greatest player he no longer had a place in the organization — understandably rubbed fans the wrong way.
It was a growth moment for Chayka, and the Coyotes would eventually make right with Doan at a jersey retirement ceremony last season. However, it does illustrate where Chayka’s vision was focused during this time: the road ahead.
The summer of 2017 saw the Coyotes swap their first-round pick (No. 7 overall) for center Derek Stepan and goaltender Antti Raanta. Chayka would also send longtime netminder Mike Smith to the Calgary Flames before hiring Rick Tocchet as the club’s new head coach, among other key moves.
Standings-wise, the Coyotes didn’t fare much better in 2017-18, but they did begin to phase in the organization’s younger players in more prominent roles. One under-the-radar move was the trade for current No. 1 goaltender Darcy Kuemper, whom Chayka acquired for Scott Wedgewood and Tobias Rieder.
Before 2018 was over, Chayka had acquired some more key pieces in the coming months such as Nick Schmaltz, Michael Grabner, Vinnie Hinostroza and Jordan Oesterle to bolster the roster. As a result, the Coyotes were much more competitive in 2018-19 and finished just four points out of a playoff spot.
Perhaps more important, however, was Chayka’s proactiveness in signing players to long-term contracts — a string of commitments that would not have been possible without Chayka pitching his long-term vision to each player.
The biggest extension was for captain Oliver Ekman-Larsson, who received an eight-year deal worth $8.3 million annually. Chychrun and center Christian Dvorak each received six-year pacts worth $4.6 million and $4.5 million per season, respectively. Next, Schmaltz signed a seven-year contract worth $5.9 million annually. Later that summer, the Coyotes also agreed to terms with Keller on an eight-year extension worth $7.2 million per season.
At this point, about three years into his tenure as general manager, Chayka had successfully locked up the pieces he considered foundational to the Coyotes’ long-term plans.
Next, Chayka’s mission was to round out his group with proven producers.
With the help of financial commitment from new owner Alex Meruelo, the club pulled off a blockbuster deal in July 2019 that sent Galchenyuk and 2017 firstround pick Pierre-Olivier Joseph to the Pittsburgh Penguins for Phil Kessel, one of the most ambitious trades in franchise history.
A few months into the 2019-20 season, with the Coyotes flirting with first place in the Pacific Division, Chayka pulled off another trade to acquire former No. 1 overall pick Taylor Hall in exchange for prospects and the club’s firstround (albeit top-three protected) pick in 2020, among other conditional picks.
However, the Coyotes failed to ride that momentum throughout the season. At the time of the NHL’s coronavirus-induced pause, Chayka’s group was looking like a long-shot to make the playoffs — until a 24-team expanded postseason gave them hope to salvage a season that was likely doomed otherwise.
Now, with the Coyotes about to play their first playoff hockey since 2012 — three years before Chayka even joined the organization as an assistant — Chayka won’t be there to see how the roster he built handles postseason pressure.
Chayka won’t be there next season to navigate what should be an up-againstthe-wall offseason with limited cap space. He won’t be there to negotiate a free-agent deal with Hall. He won’t be there to see if the Coyotes, should they lose in the upcoming series to the Nashville Predators, can cash in on a 12.5% chance to win the first overall pick in the 2020 draft.
Given the Coyotes’ disappointing 2019-20 regular season, it was easy to question some of Chayka’s moves. His two biggest extensions were providing poor early returns as Ekman-Larsson and Keller struggled to produce. Kessel, his prized offseason acquisition, turned in a droopy campaign. And there was a question whether acquiring Hall, a pending free agent, was even worth it at all.
The recency bias clouds the picture of Chayka’s work in Arizona. Like any number of business people, Chayka still has cash tied up in assets. His two biggest assets are Barrett Hayton and Victor Soderstrom, the club’s first-round draft picks in 2018 and 2019, respectively. And it’s only a matter of time before those assets are ready to liquidate.
Before rushing to judge Chayka’s portfolio, there is also the matter of his cash tied up in investments. Dvorak and Chychrun, both signed through 2025, are looking like bargains. And despite the downward trend on Ekman-Larsson, Keller and, to an extent, Schmaltz, there remains plenty of time for their respective stocks to appreciate in value.
That being said, the legacy Chayka leaves in Arizona is decidedly incomplete. It is an unfinished work — the quality of which may depend on the execution of his successor.
To judge Chayka on his performance now — with the core of the team still under contract for the next half-decade or longer, and many the club’s top prospects still under legal drinking age – would be no more effective than hiring an employee without calling their references.
Was Chayka any good at his job? Let’s wait for the other shoe to drop.