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NHL Notebook: Maple Leafs name Chayka GM, Habs fend off Lightning to be only remaining Canadian team in playoffs, and more
Toronto Maple Leafs John Chayka
Photo credit: Dan Hamilton-Imagn Images
Alicia LaBine
May 4, 2026, 18:00 EDTUpdated: May 4, 2026, 16:40 EDT
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There is a new general manager in town for the Toronto Maple Leafs, and the hiring has sparked controversy around the league.
Following the firing of Brad Treliving on March 30, the Leafs were on a search for the next GM, and they landed on John Chayka.
Chayka has been away from the game for six years after stepping down from the Arizona Coyotes in 2020. In Arizona, he left the team upon being discovered for draft tampering, holding private scouting events for the top prospects of the 2020 NHL draft. Commissioner Gary Bettman also said Chayka violated the leagueā€™s ā€œconduct detrimental to the league and gameā€ rules and had ā€œbreached his obligation to the clubā€ by speaking with other teams around the league while under contract with the Coyotes.
After his misconduct was discovered by the league, the team was forced to surrender their 2020 second-round and 2021 first-round draft picks.
During a press conference on Monday, Maple Leafs Sports and Entertainment president and CEO Keith Pelley spoke about the organizationā€™s decision to hire Chayka.
ā€œWhen we identified an opportunity to go in a different direction and bring two complementary hockey minds like John and Mats together, we jumped on it,ā€ Pelley said, also referencing the hiring of former Leafs superstar Mats Sundin as the senior advisor of hockey operations. ā€œThese gentlemen are totally focused on bringing the Stanley Cup to Toronto. Big decisions will be collective. On a day-to-day basis, John is the general manager of hockey operations, but it will be collaborative throughout the entire process.ā€
As for the concerns regarding what happened in Arizona, Pelley emphasizes that the organization is not worried about their new hiring.
ā€œWeā€™ve done extensive due diligence, and Iā€™m confident in where we landed,ā€ Pelley said. ā€œWe were incredibly impressed and encouraged by his vision that he shared during the process. Heā€™s methodical, and heā€™s measured.ā€
When he joined the Coyotes in 2016, Chayka became the youngest GM in NHL history as a 26-year-old. The now 36-year-old is back ten years later, and is the youngest active general manager in the league.

Canadiens are Canadaā€™s Team

Canadaā€™s chance at winning the Stanley Cup for the first time in 33 years lies in the hands of the Montreal Canadiens, following their 2-1 win over the Tampa Bay Lightning on Sunday.
Despite only managing nine shots against Andrei Vasilevskiy, the Habs found a way to take Game 7 with a 2-1 victory. Jakub Dobes was the star of the game, making 28 saves and holding a .966 save percentage. Dobes has been strong for the Canadiens all series, posting a 2.03 goals against average and a .923 save percentage throughout. His teammates helped him celebrate his stellar performance by giving him a face full of shaving cream after the game.
Nick Suzuki and Alex Newhook were the guys to put goals on the board amongst the teamā€™s nine shots. For Newhook, this was his first goal of the series, and stood as the series winner. The captain also secured his first goal in this game, as he is currently running one goal and six points in the playoffs.
The Lightning were the better team in the Game 7 matchup, but ultimately they lost the goaltending battle, as Vezina nominee Andrei Vasilevskiyā€™s 2.18 goals against average and .897 save percentage were not good enough to send the team in front of him to Round 2.
On Mondayā€™s episode of Daily Faceoff LIVE, Tyler Yaremchuk and former NHL goaltender Carter Hutton touched on what it took for the Canadiens to best the Lighting.
Tyler Yaremchuk: Jon Cooper after the game said, ā€œSometimes you win the game but not the score,ā€ and thatā€™s really what this was. The Lightning were all over Montreal, but Jakub Dobes stopped 28 of 29. As for Andrei Vasilevskiy, I donā€™t even want to point the finger at him too much, because that game-winning goal was pretty much from behind the net. It was just one of those nights where, I donā€™t know, I guess you could say the hockey gods wanted the Habs to move on to Round 2.
Carter Hutton: Itā€™s one of those ones where you could look at a box score or the game, and the score doesnā€™t indicate how well the Lightning played. But at the end of the day, it doesnā€™t matter, itā€™s about winning hockey games and getting it done, and thatā€™s what the Montreal Canadiens did. They hung around and hung around, they bent but didnā€™t break.
This will be the first time since Carey Price willed the team to the 2021 Stanley Cup Finals that the Canadiens will be playing second-round hockey. If the Habs go all the way this year, they will win their first Stanley Cup since 1993, and will be the first Canadian team to hoist the trophy thereafter.
The puck will drop in Round 2 for the Habs on Wednesday evening at 5:00 p.m. against the Buffalo Sabres.

Dahlin, Toews, Landeskog are Masterson finalists

The NHL has announced the finalists for the 2026 Bill Masterson Memorial Trophy.
Two captains, Rasmus Dahlin and Gabriel Landeskog, and former captain Jonathan Toews are the three in competition for the award. Connor Ingram was the Oilersā€™ nominee for the trophy this year, however, he did not achieve top three status in the voting.
Bill Masterson, who passed away during the 1967-68 season, holds the namesake for this trophy that ā€œbest exemplifies the qualities of perseverance, sportsmanship, and dedication to hockey.ā€
Dahlin went through a lot of personal struggles this season, as his fiancƩe, Carolina Matovac, suffered heart failure in the summer of 2025, requiring a heart transplant, and spent several weeks on life support. The Sabres captain took time away from the team in November, again around Christmas, and after the Olympic break, to visit Matovac in Sweden during her checkups. Amid an already difficult time in their lives, they also revealed that they had lost their unborn child.
On March 25, 2026, Matovac returned for her first Sabres game since her medical struggles, receiving a large cheer from the crowd, Dahlin was smiling up at the jumbotron at the sight of his fiancƩe.
Dahlin could join Pat Lafontaine (1995) and Don Luce (1975) as the third Sabre to win the award.
Toewsā€™ return to the NHL was not without a lot of rest and rehabilitation. After contracting Chronic Inflammatory Response Syndrome (CIRS) and long COVID, the forward spent two and a half years away from the game as he navigated through these health-related issues.
This season Toews joined the Winnipeg Jets, his hometown team, making his first appearance in the NHL since the 2022-23 season where he was captaining the Chicago Blackhawks. If Toews were to win this award, he would be the first Jets player to do so in NHL history.
The Avalanche captain also spent a large chunk of time away from the game. After the Avs won the cup in 2022, Landeskog revealed that he had suffered an injury to his knee that would require a cartilage replacement operation in May 2023, among three other procedures. His return to the team didnā€™t occur until the 2025 playoffs, where the Avalanche lost Round 1 in seven games to the Dallas Stars.
This season, Landeskog played in 60 games, missing 14 straight games leading up to the Olympic break after breaking his ribs while crashing into the net. He recorded 14 goals and 35 points, and in his five playoff appearances, he has two goals and five points. The Swedish left winger could become the first player in the Avalancheā€™s history to win this award.

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