Tuesday's FTB: Lottery Day!

The NHL Draft Lottery is today and will be aired on Sportsnet, ESPN and TWASports at 7 pm.

I've been doing some research on the draft and the idea of trading top picks. Today is a piece on the overall history of the trades made over the last 26 years. Tomorrow, well, that depends on tonight.

NHL Draft Lottery - how it works

You only think you know how this goes.

PPP LeafsCathy Squires

Yesterday was all about the Leafs with the new executive media availability:

Maple Leafs Chayka/Sundin/Pelley Media Availability

Watch together.

PPP LeafsCathy Squires

Before that went down, Justin Bourne had some thoughts that are actually intelligent and were on my mind while I watched:

Six thoughts on the Maple Leafs hiring Mats Sundin and John Chayka

The Maple Leafs’ hiring of Mats Sundin and John Chayka appeared to pique fans’ curiosity. Sportsnet’s Justin Bourne has some potential answers among his six thoughts on the new front-office duo.

Sportsnet.caJustin Bourne

It's all good, but this stood out, as does the part about trading to improve:

In the past, this idea of “I need to evaluate everyone” before making decisions — namely with Treliving and the Mitch Marner contract situation — has really hurt the team. You just need to know the lay of the land on Day 1. Where the team is at is not proprietary information — it’s not hard to follow along with their contracts, it’s all very public. And so if you’ve followed the team at all — which presumably Chayka has if they’re hiring him — you know you can’t move forward with the same people in every role.

So is he going to get hired and start by letting people go? By making trades? The draft is in a month, so how soon will hard conversations be had with Morgan Rielly, Max Domi and others? I actually kinda like that there’s news out there that he’s already been in contact with people under contracts, as he’s clearly ready to get going immediately. I’ll take that over “I just need to come in and look around and get the lay of the land.”

There will be so much talk about the Leafs hires now because the second-best time to have a big opinion piece out about something is when there's a little bit of information, but not much information. But judging by the sometimes unhinged accusatory questions from the press, no one is going to be talking about hockey very much.

Almost every question was about the process of hiring, rumour- and conspiracy- theory based nonsense or the ravings of Steve Simmons and the confusion of Rosie DiManno. There isn't much meat on the bones of that Q&A. I don't think there was meant to be. Almost every reporter there had a process-related question that sounded like a grievance or a hit piece on John Chayka prepared to go.

I get that they want to rake over these coals. But the deed is done, and this is, for many of them, their only chance to talk to the new GM of the Leafs about where the Leafs go from here. They're stuck in last week's social media rumour mill. They've mistaken the sizzle of drama for the meat of their jobs. And a lot of hockey fans are so very here for this soap opera of circling wagons and shutting out the guy who doesn't fit in.

Chayka was somewhat vague when discussing Craig Berube in response to a sensible question from Terry Koshan. He said that he and Mats Sundin will talk to him soon and discuss things. There was not too much of the "get the lay of the land" sort of talk that Bourne was fearful of.

Luke Fox's normal question about hockey got a fulsome answer from Chayka about the basic principles of the game and how they want to be team that can win in multiple ways. Chayka was also clear that he sees a gap between where the team is and what they need to be. He also used the term "latent upside" in the team, which I agree with. He is clear that there needs work to have that latency show up on the ice. He was also honest that they need some luck and to hit on the right choices a few times.

No one followed up on any of that looking for detail. Maybe they will have done so in the scrums that follow that are not broadcasted.

Dave McCarthy asked Sundin about risk with this job. I believe he means reputational risk, and Sundin basically brushed that off by saying he doesn't think about that, but it was a legitimate question that got an answer of a sort.

The entire episode of journalistic incompetence – incendiary or stupid questions about how everyone thinks Chayka is a con man from Steve Simmons to Kevin McGran thinking that asking about Tie Domi doing "machinations" was what mattered were very easy to just shut down. They existed to get the question on the record, not to get an answer. They were grandstanding buffoonery, capped off by Jonas Seigel with the final question who decided, "Why didn't you hire a President?" was what everyone needed to know. He sounded confrontational. Keith Pelley got to calmly respond with the identical words he used a month ago about being open to any structure. He got to just repeat "due diligence" to every line of attack about Chayka, some disappointingly from Chris Johnston who could have asked anything about the Leafs, and instead he went for this metatextual process discussion. Pelley also got to call certain people's reporting "preposterous" in response to the "machinations" nonsense.

If these people collectively wanted to shine up the gloss on Chayka's hiring, they couldn't have picked a better way to do it. Because they were so confrontational and fixated on the hiring process, Chayka was able to easily duck questions about his combine rules violations and NHL suspension. He also barely discussed the Toronto Maple Leafs so he never actually had a chance to say anything that might be concerning to fans of hockey the game, not the NHL as a business.

Lance Hornby asked about Chayka's plan to talk to players. Chayka was happy to discuss how he's already started doing that. He also talked at length about his approach with Auston Matthews and how they can achieve the values they have in common – to win in Toronto. This was a great question from Nation Network reporter, whose name I could not make out on the broadcast.

Luke Fox. He covers hockey it seems, not the social media alternate reality or the "rival GM" gossip and knitting circle.

Was this worse than the Dubas "divorce" pressers? Yeah, way worse. Because those two events were an emotional time after a loss. This was supposed to be about the future direction of the team and instead it was scandal mongering, conspiracy theories, and Steve Simmons.

I really, really want to hear John Chayka talk some more about hockey systems and how he thinks the Leafs should play with more specifics than he was called upon to give yesterday. He hit my big bias dead centre, though, when he kept repeating how player-focused he is. There was something about the way he talked about being honest with players, telling them the truth and putting their needs first that was not typical GM speak.

I want to know how he's going to integrate scouting and analytics. Not one reporter even said the word analytics, and Chayka's opening remarks included a bit that could be taken as him saying the NHL has finally caught up to him, so his time to be a GM is now. He's right, it has, and it does make his return make some sense, but no one seemed to hear that or catch the ever so slight arrogance of it.

Honestly, when Simmons started going about his 20 sources (where have I heard that number before?), I really wanted someone to stand up and say, "Sir, this is a Wendy's."

This is a much more interesting Q&A:

There is also a 32 Thoughts interview, which I have not had time to listen to:

32 Thoughts: The Podcast

Hockey fans already know the name, but this is not the blog. From Sportsnet, 32 Thoughts: The Podcast with NHL Insider Elliotte Friedman & Kyle Bukauskas is a weekly deep dive into the biggest news and interviews from the hockey world.

Sportsnet.ca

My focus after the lottery will be on laying out the tasks ahead of the new management, and considering what moves they can make. Moves are unlikely before the SCF in June, however.

Our draft prospect coverage begins soon.

In other news:

Brantford lost another heartbreaker, this time game 7, and are out of the playoffs. I confess I am not sure if Ben Danford can join the Marlies mid-playoffs or not. I'm not sure they'd open up the roster to a new guy, as they sent home all the ATOs and PTOs they signed.

The Marlies return to action tonight at 7 pm.

There were two NHL games last night, and I caught some of the Flyers-Canes OT and got to see Taylor Hall very happy. Sean Walker is very good, yet another defenceman coveted by Leafs fans who went on to glory elsewhere. Six straight wins for Carolina.

That's all for now, see you at 7 pm.