‘We have a good relationship’: Leafs’ Ekman-Larsson gives new GM Chayka vote of confidence
This article originally appeared on hockeysverige.se and has been translated from Swedish to English.
After the Toronto Maple Leafs were one of the NHL’s top teams for several years, their 2025-26 season ended in complete disaster. The team collected just 78 points in 82 games and finished second-last in the Eastern Conference. Only four teams in the entire NHL were worse than Toronto. As a result, the club missed the playoffs for the first time in the Auston Matthews era after qualifying in nine straight seasons. The last time Toronto missed the playoffs was in 2016 — 10 years ago.
Oliver Ekman-Larsson moved to Toronto in 2024 after winning the Stanley Cup with the Florida Panthers. Even though ‘OEL,’ who is now set to play in the World Championship with Team Sweden, had a strong individual season, things went much worse for the team as a whole. In Toronto, the pressure is enormous, and the crisis headlines become bigger than perhaps anywhere else in the hockey world when the team struggles.
Now, Ekman-Larsson shares his thoughts on the season and missing the playoffs. According to him, the outside pressure did not affect the team.
“It’s obviously disappointing not to make the playoffs,” Oliver Ekman-Larsson told hockeysverige.se. “At the same time, I think it’s easy to be negative when things aren’t going well, and some people probably make it sound worse than it actually is. But we have high expectations on ourselves every year, and that’s the way it should be.
“Overall, though, I think everyone feels it’s incredibly fun to be in Toronto and play in hockey’s Mecca. I actually think we put more pressure on ourselves than what comes from the outside or from the fans. Of course it’s disappointing, and I hope we can fix things and bounce back next year. We had made the playoffs eight or nine years in a row, so naturally it was a big disappointment not to get there this time.”
Following the disappointing season, changes are coming to Toronto’s front office. General manager Brad Treliving was fired, and the club has instead brought in new people to lead hockey operations. John Chayka steps in as the new general manager, while Swedish legend Mats Sundin takes on a role as strategic advisor.
What does OEL think about Sundin joining the organization and getting to work with him now?
“I think it’s only positive to bring a legend like that into the organization,” Ekman-Larsson said. “He’s one of the biggest figures in Leafs history with everything that comes with it. He really understands how the players feel, how they live, and what it’s like to be a player in Toronto. I think that’s important and that it can help a lot of guys on the team. He’ll also be a great sounding board. I don’t think anyone would turn down having a hockey icon like ‘Sudden’ as a sounding board and colleague.”
However, the hiring of John Chayka as general manager has been heavily criticized. Chayka does not have the most flattering résumé. His tenure as GM of the Arizona Coyotes was marked by missed playoffs, questionable decisions and a controversial departure that later led to him being suspended by the NHL. His suspension was lifted in 2021, but since then no other team had chosen to give Chayka another opportunity — until now, when he was hired by the Leafs.
Oliver Ekman-Larsson knows Chayka well from their time together in Arizona. In fact, it was Chayka who negotiated the eight-year contract that OEL signed with the Coyotes in 2018. Now, the duo reunites in Toronto.
There have been a lot of opinions about him coming to Toronto. What’s Ekman-Larsson’s view of Chayka as a GM?
“I think it’s going to work out well with both John and Mats in their respective roles,” Ekman-Larsson said. “I think they complement each other really well. I worked with John for several years in Arizona, and we have a good relationship. It’ll be fun to continue building on that now. Hopefully, we can also achieve the goals that both we — and the entire city — have for the team.”