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Johnson on Matthews' uncertain future, the potential duo with McDavid and the relationship with Sundin
05 May 2026
Transcript generated automatically by AI and may contain errors.
Chapter 1: What is Mats Sundin's role with the Maple Leafs?
And look who's jumped on the train. Look who's jumped on the train in the second hour.
Disappointing you didn't play it coming in, JP.
Yeah, Mike Johnson in here. He runs the operation in the second hour.
You want to hit it just quick, JP? Get back on the train, folks. Hour two. Brian Hayes, Jamie McLennan, Jeff O'Neill, and MJ in studio. There you go.
It's seamless. I mean, this guy is a seasoned pro. This feels like old school.
We used to do this all the time. All the time.
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Chapter 2: How does Sundin's relationship with Matthews influence the team?
Around here. You know who we are? Chayka and Sundin. Sundin and Chayka. Best friends. Just two buddies running the operation.
Since 2012.
It's beautiful.
How about that? They've been buddies for a long, long time. We have complementary visions, in alignment, vertical integration. Totally.
The connection between the two is undeniable. It really is. They stayed in touch since the MEM Cup back in 2012.
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Chapter 3: What are the implications of Matthews' uncertain future?
What do you make of that, Johnny? I mean, it was not surprising what's happened. We all sort of knew it was going this direction. You know, a press conference yesterday was illuminating. I don't think they... the people on the stage should have been surprised by any of the questions. I mean, maybe the tone of them, but the actual questions.
For Mats, having spoken to Mats and sort of hearing what he said yesterday, I think he's very much with his immediate eye on That culture is a weird word. But like the dressing room and how guys are treated and treating each other and the atmosphere. And that's when he's referring to the older guys and Dougie and Wendell and Dux or whoever.
That he's going to go down that road of trying to make the room a way that he envisions it should be.
Let me just interrupt there, Johnny. For people that think that Matt's is this... skillful European player.
Chapter 4: Could Matthews and McDavid form a super team?
He is that, but this guy, that's right, he can lose it and he can set the standard where it's just, I've seen it happen, where he's not just, ah, whatever, those guys can do it. That's not the way he can do it.
No, he's not saying, I'm going to lead only by example. That's not what he was. Now, you read a lot of people saying, he was never a good leader. I'm like, nah, he was. Just because you didn't see it. You didn't hear it.
They say that because they never won.
Right, but they were never in the room when he tears a strip out of me for not being very good and demanding more. He has a real sense of that. I think his title, for Matt specifically, it's sort of clear what he's going to do.
And while he is going to have conversations about transactions and players, he's not talking about depth charts, who the Milwaukee Admirals might have in their third line, right winger for a P. He's not doing that to start. He may get there, but to start, he's like, how do we make it so this room functions better in a manner that he believes a winning room has to operate? And I think he's very...
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Chapter 5: What organizational changes are necessary for the Maple Leafs?
equipped and experienced to have those kind of conversations so quickly quickly i want to ask you guys because you can answer this you guys have both been in that room noodles you've been in your own rooms He's no longer the former player, though, right? Like, you can't pull Matthews aside and say, hey, we're just two captains, let's grab a beer and talk as players. He's not that anymore.
Why can't he? Because he's not. He's technically Matthews' boss now, or he's in the executive office.
That's part of the reason why he's there, is to go and grab a guy and have a coffee, have a beer, and say, let's... Let's talk hockey. He can blend. Okay.
I guess that's what I'm asking you. I'm asking you to play the role of Matthews and Willie. Do you think they look at him differently? Is he a confidant?
Chapter 6: How does leadership change with Sundin's hiring?
Or is he going back to tell Chayka and them and saying, hey, Boston just told me we've got problems in the room. And it's like, well, you're no longer Matt's the guy who ā you're not a player anymore. That's what I'm getting at. He's got to shed the I'm the former player because he's an executive now.
You don't think Dave Poulin in Ottawa who ā is an executive, he's an assistant GM, you don't think he goes down, has a coffee, grabs a guy and says, you know that play last night?
I'm not saying he wouldn't do that. I'm saying, do you think Brady speaks to him as the player Dave Pullen or as the manager? It's a very different conversation.
I think it's just hockey people talking. I don't think when somebody comes down like that, you're like, oh God, it's not like the head coach where you're like, what does this guy have to say? It's just people talking hockey.
Can he manager them?
There's an element of trust that has to be there. Yeah.
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Chapter 7: What factors could lead to Matthews leaving the Maple Leafs?
And not confidentiality, but understanding that if I'm going to be frank with you, you're not going to hold it against me if you don't hear something you like. Otherwise, I'm not going to say anything to you. I think that's fair. But I do think blending executive, assistant, whatever his title is, and what he's bringing in experience is as a former player.
He's not bringing in experience of running for Lunda. Right? He's... Right, he's been there, he's been under the lights. He's gone through what you're going through. And maybe having that conversation, I get it, different era, but I get it, can help him in that regard.
So we'll see. But that's where I was going to go. Do you think that... Him coming in and observing, but having been in the chair, being the captain of the Toronto Maple Leafs, understanding the weight of things that carry in this market, you can have that bond with Austin Matthews. But he has to look at it through a different lens, as we all do as former players.
Chapter 8: How might the Leafs improve their chances of retaining Matthews?
I try and look at it like... 2026, not 1999 or 2004. So Matt's just going to have to adjust, but it might be subtle things. It's like, what are you doing there? Why are you guys wearing that?
See, that's what I'm talking about. It's not just, hey, Austin, how do you lead? How do you get people to follow you? When you get run over by a knee-on-knee, how do we make sure everyone jumps in there? Some of that. But it might be as simple as, hey... When we take a bus to the airport, this is like, hey, when we get to a place on the road, why aren't we eating dinners together?
Hey, why are there so many middle managers hanging around the practice rink? We've got to cut that out. Like, you know, just the day-to-day stuff that maybe has slipped away from the way he sees it to the way it's been recently. All-encompassing and all those kind of things is that's where he will probably set his sights.
What do you make of the report from Chris Johnston that Austin Matthews wants... I fell out of my chair. Like, was that not surprising to you guys? Well, Johnny, I was saying you can't let somebody say... Get rid of assets and do this and that, and then I'm going to sit back on my couch and make an assessment of it, and if I still don't like it, I'm still going to leave.
You can't run, you can't operate a business like that. It's an impossible situation. Because you could do a bunch of stuff, and what if he doesn't like it? What are you going to do, bring him in the room and have the guy running the team? Can't do that either.
What threw me off was not that he might leave. I think that's, whether it's Connor McDavid, whether it's Quinn Hughes, whether it's Austin Matthews, if they don't like what they're seeing and they want to go somewhere, I think we sort of get that. But when I read that it might be for next fall, I'm like, excuse me? Next fall?
What could have to happen or not happen this summer that would force him into a spot where, yeah, I want to get traded now?
Well, if that's your mandate, you're basically saying you're leaving because there's nothing they can do with the situation they're in to make themselves that much better.
This is where my head goes. I'm like, well, wait a second. So there's something that Austin and his camp clearly sees that he wants the team to do. Is it feasible that the team is able to do that in the next four months?
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