26-year old John Chayka promoted to GM in Arizona

[CarltonTheBear]

[tweet]727979812778692608[/tweet]

http://www.sportsnet.ca/hockey/nhl/coyotes-promote-26-year-old-john-chayka-new-gm-thursday/

Wow. Who feels old? Chayka was initially hired to be their assistant GM last May, so he has less than a year of front office experience. As for his credentials prior to that:

Prior to joining the Coyotes, Chayka co-founded and served as the director of hockey operation at Stathletes Inc., which is a hockey analyics 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.?

The Ontario native earned his bachelor?s degree in business administration from the Richard Ivey School of Business at the University of Western Ontario.

Definitely an interesting hire.

 

[McGarnagle]

http://www.sportsnet.ca/hockey/nhl/arizona-coyotes-express-interest-maple-leafs-kyle-dubas/

Sounds like they had a pretty defined template of what they were looking for. Young, analytical. Now all they need is a former hall of fame player and a tight-lipped septuagenarian from jersey. 

 

[Kin]

http://www.sportsnet.ca/hockey/nhl/arizona-coyotes-express-interest-maple-leafs-kyle-dubas/

Sounds like they had a pretty defined template of what they were looking for. Young, analytical. Now all they need is a former hall of fame player and a tight-lipped septuagenarian from jersey.

Also, two massive multi-billion dollar corporations running the team as a media property couldn't hurt.

 

[herman]

[tweet]727979812778692608[/tweet]
Wow. Who feels old? Chayka was initially hired to be their assistant GM last May, so he has less than a year of front office experience. As for his credentials prior to that:

Prior to joining the Coyotes, Chayka co-founded and served as the director of hockey operation at Stathletes Inc., which is a hockey analyics 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.?

The Ontario native earned his bachelor?s degree in business administration from the Richard Ivey School of Business at the University of Western Ontario.

Definitely an interesting hire.

I feel both old and unaccomplished.

http://www.sportsnet.ca/hockey/nhl/arizona-coyotes-express-interest-maple-leafs-kyle-dubas/

Sounds like they had a pretty defined template of what they were looking for. Young, analytical. Now all they need is a former hall of fame player and a tight-lipped septuagenarian from jersey. 

You're my hero.

 

[Kin]

Lou's from Rhode Island though.

 

[McGarnagle]

 

[Britishbulldog]

Time to trade Leeman for Gilmour....I mean Gardiner and Kapanen for OEL...

This guy is younger than my daughter!  Yeah, I might feel a bit old.

 

[Frank E]

Western grad. We're good.

 

[Kin]

Western grad. We're good.

Good lord, we're everywhere.

 

[herman]

https://www.nhl.com/news/coyotes-general-manager-john-chayka-interview/c-281231116

Just the other day you signed Luke Schenn. You already signed Alex Goligoski this offseason. Obviously you have Oliver Ekman-Larsson. What is the philosophy behind the defense that you're building in Arizona and where do you think it is now in relation to what it was last season?

"The philosophy is fairly simple. It's when we don't have the puck, recover the puck as quickly as possible. There are all kinds of different forms where you can gain possession of the puck, some of them are physical and some of them are non-physical, so I think you need a blend to have both. Once you get the puck back it's to transition the puck. Defense isn't about defending, it's about getting the puck in the forwards' hands and getting the puck moving into the offensive zone. It's about transitioning. That's the philosophy and that's been the theme behind the moves that we're making, let's get players who can get pucks back and get pucks up to forwards in an efficient and effective manner. We think we've taken strides here. We hope there is an improvement. We believe there will be an improvement. Now it's about continuing to look to tweak it. We also have Anthony DeAngelo on the back end. We traded for him and we think he's a real treat for forwards to play with because he gets them the puck in positions where they can be successful and he can join the rush himself. We're hoping for an impact from him at some point in this season. We're hopeful that the whole group can continue to grow together.

Does all this mean the Coyotes are now built to be a faster and more aggressive this season?

"Watching last year, I thought we were a pretty good defending team, but the problem is we just defended way too much. We've got a lot of good forwards and I think some of their numbers have been stressed by the fact that they were in the defensive zone for too long. It's our job to get players in place to put them in position to be successful. As we spend more time in the offensive zone, we'll deny their defense to transition the puck back into the offensive zone and we're going to see more growth in our forwards play. We want to support them from the back end. We want to make sure we're giving them some autonomy to make plays and be creative knowing it's not always going to end up in the back of the net. I think [Coyotes coach Dave Tippett] is continuing to evolve his coaching styles and methodology, and I give him a lot of credit for being in the League as long as he has and having as much success as he's had always looking for a new methodology to improve. We're going to play a more aggressive and up-tempo style of game."

I'm very comfortable with adopting the Coyotes as my second team to cheer for, and nominally follow, this year, because it'll be a preview of #DubasLeafsGM #DubasRising, and Arizona and the Leafs both holding each others' sons as wards/hostages.

 

[GhostofPotvin29]

Then you'd have to cheer for Shane "Dirty but somehow never called out for it" Doan.

 

[herman]

Then you'd have to cheer for Shane "Dirty but somehow never called out for it" Doan.

True. I forgot he even existed.

 

[Frank E]

I don't mean to sound like a D here, but doesn't every single team talk about getting the puck out of the zone and a strong transition game?

I hear the same rhetoric all the time, and really, between the Leafs and Arizona, there really is only one way to go in terms of results...up.  So I'm still a little skeptical about how effective Dubas and Chayka really are until we see some definitive results that can be attributed to something they've actively affected.

Don't get me wrong, I don't really have a problem with Dubas, but given this year's draft and other moves/reported attempted moves, I'm not quite ready to anoint anyone there. 

 

[Zee]

I still can't believe a 26 year old is a GM, he should be out playing Pokemon Go.

 

[herman]

I don't mean to sound like a D here, but doesn't every single team talk about getting the puck out of the zone and a strong transition game?

I hear the same rhetoric all the time, and really, between the Leafs and Arizona, there really is only one way to go in terms of results...up.  So I'm still a little skeptical about how effective Dubas and Chayka really are until we see some definitive results that can be attributed to something they've actively affected.

Don't get me wrong, I don't really have a problem with Dubas, but given this year's draft and other moves/reported attempted moves, I'm not quite ready to anoint anyone there.

I think that is a fair assessment. I think it's also fair to say Chayka's philosophy on defense is only gradually becoming mainstream in the NHL. There is still an element of traditional stay-at-home defense throughout the league. It'll be really interesting to see what happens in Anaheim in that regard, where the coaching will probably clash with the natural skills and playstyles of the defense there.

 

[CarltonTheBear]

Speaking of Chayka/Doan, Capfriendly broke down the very interesting contract that the two sides recently agreed to: https://www.capfriendly.com/articles/32/shane-doan-deferred-salary-and-bonuses-explained

So Doan will receive a base salary of $2,500,000 this coming season.

He also receives a signing bonus that comes to a total value of $1,376,134. Most signing bonuses are paid in a single lump sum usually on a date like July 1st or whenever the deal was signed, but Doan's signing bonus will actually be paid out annually between 2017-2022 and will be considered deferred salary that is subject to interest rates. So the final value of his signing bonuses will be $1,500,000.

Doan also has a games played bonus that has a total value of $963,438. Like his signing bonus, this will be paid out in the future (between 2018-2019) and again will be subject to interest rates so the final paid out sum would be $1,000,000.

From Capfriendly:

So what does this all mean? It means that Doan?s contract for the 2016-17 season has the following breakdown:

The result of which spawns 2 very interesting results for the Arizona Coyotes:

?The Arizona Coyotes end up with a slightly lower cap hit ($3,876,134) and annual average (AAV) ($4,839,572) as opposed to if they didn?t defer the salary and were forced to pay Shane Doan the entire $5,000,000 in the 2016-17 league year (of which Doan was seeking).

?For a team like the Arizona Coyotes operating on budget, and who at the time of the signing were at $51M in committed salary expenses for the 2016-17 season, reducing the amount of actual dollars expended from $5,000,000 to $2,500,000, while deferring the remainder to a later date is beneficial. It gives the team more flexibility, and allows them to sign the player they couldn?t afford to lose.

In the end, the Shane Doan contract is a reflection of the how smart and innovative general managers are thinking outside the box when looking at structuring new deals in a Salary Cap system and the modern day NHL.

 

[Kin]

This is what it must be like to be given a Ferrari on your 14th birthday.

 

[Heroic Shrimp]

This is what it must be like to be given a Ferrari on your 14th birthday.

I think I can safely assume that you're the first person to make an analogy between the Arizona Coyotes and a Ferrari.

 

[Kin]

I think I can safely assume that you're the first person to make an analogy between the Arizona Coyotes and a Ferrari.

Actually in that analogy the Ferrari is Dubas but even that seems a little dramatic. A Tesla station wagon?

 

[rdowdall]

This is what it must be like to be given a Ferrari on your 14th birthday.

I think I can safely assume that you're the first person to make an analogy between the Arizona Coyotes and a Ferrari.

I think the Coyotes are the 14 year old.