John Chayka has made another move in his first couple weeks as Toronto Maple Leafs general manager. After firing head coach Craig Berube last week, it's another departure from the staff.
Announced by the team on Sunday morning, they have mututally parted ways with assistant general managers Brandon Pridham and Derek Clancey. And frankly, letting Pridham leave the team could be something they regret fairly soon.
— Toronto Maple Leafs (@MapleLeafs) May 17, 2026
Pridham was first hired in 2014 as a special assistant to the general manager in the same summer that Kyle Dubas was originally hired as assistant general manager. He quickly rose up, taking Dubas's assistant general manager job when the now Penguins general manager got promoted in 2018, and has held that role since.
"Brandon has played an integral role in the organization over the past 12 seasons," said Chayka in the Leafs' press release. "We are sincerely appreciative of Brandon's professionalism, commitment, and dedication to the Maple Leafs throughout his tenure."
Brandon Pridham can be a good GM elsewhere
The main thing that Pridham brought to the table was extensive knowledge of the NHL's CBA and how he can manipulate the salary cap for the Leafs to benefit from it and squeeze every single penny. Toronto was one of the first teams to constantly be sending players back down to the AHL throughout the season so then by the trade deadline, it would cumulate to a sizeable about of cap space, so they they can acquire a higher tier of players. That practice is now banned as part of the new CBA, and needing players to actually play at least one game in the AHL before returning to the NHL.
Basically, Pridham -- who also helped write previous editions of the CBA for the NHL, by the way -- was able to be so good at his job that the league needed to address something he started doing and taking advantage of loopholes.
That is a mind that has been so valuable for Toronto and if given full control of a team, Pridham could be a very good general manager. He was part of the rounds of interviews for the general manager position in Toronto but Keith Pelley and MLSE decided to hire John Chayka instead.
While maybe it is out of respect so that Pridham can go seek a job elsewhere in the NHL, since he should be a hot candidate for other executive vacancies, but Toronto is certainly losing someone that has overseen a good portion of some of the best seasons in recent Leafs history.
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