The new era of Maple Leafs hockey is officially here — and we have a lot to unpack.

On this week's episode of The Leafs Lab Podcast, we start with a full breakdown of the Leafs' press conference and the Toronto media's embarrassing performance (1:40), before diving deep into the John Chayka hiring — what it means, what the risks are, and what the best and worst case scenarios look like (8:55).

Then we turn to Mats Sundin and what his role could realistically mean for the culture of this franchise (36:35). Keith Pelley, as per usual, couldn't help himself (42:40), we get into that too.

From there, we look at what the best and worst teams in the league can teach the Leafs about the direction they need to go (46:20), before shifting our attention to the draft lottery and what's at stake for Toronto (1:03:15).

We close things out with the question of how much would a new coach actually improve this team (1:14:25) and finish with a response to Frank Seravalli's spineless tampering article (1:24:08).

The Chayka-Sundin era has officially begun. Let's get into it.

Intro/Outro music by Chad Walt

Spotify: (https://open.spotify.com/artist/5gaejVfjk7KebwksgFtw13)

Instagram: (https://www.instagram.com/officialchadwalt/)

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