Disgraced Coyotes GM John Chayka suspended from the NHL

Don't let the door hit you on the way out, Johnny!

HockeyFeed
HockeyFeed
Published 3 years ago
Disgraced Coyotes GM John Chayka suspended from the NHL
Zuma Press

The National Hockey League has just issued a huge suspension, but this time it will not be a player facing the consequences.

According to a report from NHL insider Elliotte Friedman, after months of anticipation the league has finally ruled on a contractual dispute between the Arizona Coyotes and their now former general manager in John Chayka. The league has issued a one year suspension to Chayka following his controversial departure from the Coyotes organization, with that suspension reportedly ending on Dec 31st of 2021.

It is a significant penalty for Chayka as it will seriously hinder his ability to find employment in the NHL for not only this season but for the following season as well. Although we don't know when the 2021 - 2022 NHL season will officially get under way, I suspect that it will be before January 1st of 2022 when Chayka will be eligible to be hired again.

Back in July of 2020, shortly after having signed a 4 year contract extension with the new Coyotes ownership group, Chayka resigned from his position as general manager. The move came just one day before the Coyotes were expected to set foot inside of the NHL's playoff bubble, and it led to a strongly worded statement from the Coyotes in which they announced Chayka had "quit on a strong team." Needless to say not the type of language you would expect to hear in a press release of this nature.

Chayka would release a statement of his own in which he blamed ownership for creating the situation that they were in, although who really deserves the blame in this mess truly does remain a mystery. What we do know is that at some point Chayka was approached by another owner or ownership group, one believed to be involved in multiple sports and not just the NHL, in order to interview for another job. Whether or not he was granted permission to interview for that job while under contract with the Coyotes is at the hard of this dispute, and it would seem that the NHL believes Chayka was at fault. 

I will say that I would have been extremely surprised to see the NHL issue a ruling against the brand new owner of the Coyotes, a franchise that has been notorious for its lack of stable ownership for years at this point. I do wonder however what will come next for Chayka off the back of this ruling.



Update: Although we suspected as much, NHL insider Darren Dreger has confirmed that the suspension stems from Chayka's attempt to terminate his contract early.