Arizona Coyotes: Losing Chayka Will Add Fuel to Team

The Arizona Coyotes need to be inspired to prove John Chayka was wrong to leave the team.

As the Arizona Coyotes were getting ready for their expedition to the bubble in Edmonton, news broke that general manager John Chayka resigned unexpectedly. While this comes as a surprise to the team and the rest of the National Hockey League, it seems there is way more to the story then what is being shared right now.

What we do know is that the Coyotes owner, Alex Meruelo, asked NHL commissioner Gary Bettman to help get Chayka out of the picture.

At the age of 31, Chayka will for sure get another opportunity to prove himself, but his resume will be stained as this decision, which he said came from an issue with the ownership group and was the only option, seems immature on the surface and until further information is provided, it is hard to decide who to put blame on.

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While the Coyotes have quickly named Steve Sullivan as the interim general manager, this is still a shock to a franchise that is back in the playoffs for the first time since 2012. How does this move affect the players and staff of this desert hockey team?

Well, when someone in upper management such as Chayka decides to quit on a team looking to make a deep run in the playoffs, it means there was little faith in the team to be successful. But the players have two options – feel ashamed or feel ignited.

As Arizona gets set to play the Nashville Predators in the play-in series, they now have something to prove than ever before. And this Coyotes team led by Phil Kessel, Taylor Hall, and Oliver Ekman-Larsson will look to prove to Chayka that he made a crucial mistake leaving, as well as showcasing to the rest of the NHL that this team is a team that can do damage.

In the recent past, we have seen upper management actions affect the players on their respective clubs. Back in 2018, Dallas Stars CEO Jim Lites called out his two stars in Tyler Seguin and Jamie Benn as he stated, and pardon my french, “They are f*cking horse-sh*t … I don’t know how else to put it”.

While these two players were struggling, calling them out, these words were never forgotten.

This Stars team was able to turn around their season, qualifying for the playoffs in which they knocked off the Predators in the first round four games to two before ultimately losing to the St. Louis Blues in the second round in seven games, the team that went on to hoist the Stanley Cup.

While the team gets ridiculed throughout social media, this now gives the Coyotes an advantage.

NHL teams become a family throughout a season, a tight-knit group. And when that group is threatened by words or actions, the team gets even closer, making them that much more powerful.

A few leaders on this team struggled this season, as Kessel only racked up 14 goals on the year, Hall with 16, and the captain of this team in Ekman-Larsson only registering nine goals.

One can assume that this leadership group will elevate their play when the puck drops on August 2nd at 2 PM.

But for now, this team knows how good they can be, and if a general manager does not have the faith to stick with them in the most important time of the year, that just makes winning these gams much more rewarding.

And against a Nashville team which struggled the entirety of the season, this Coyotes team fueled by this move will find a way to advance to the second round.