A job opportunity outside the organization caused rift between Coyotes, GM Chayka

Rumours are swirling that John Chayka has been fired as the general manager of the Arizona Coyotes and that a job opportunity outside of the organization caused a rift between him and the team's owner. According to Sportsnet's Elliotte Friedman, Chayka was approached by another organization during the suspension of NHL play due to the COVID-19 pandemic. While the team initially gave that organization permission to speak with Chayka, when he was offered the chance to leave, the team dug in its heels and refused to let him back out of the remaining three years on his contract.

Coyotes owner Alex Meruelo has been a huge public supporter of Chayka. There was reportedly going to be a transition period where Chayka was going to stay on with Arizona until the end of the 2019-20 season, but those talks broke down and the relationship apparently followed.

The Coyotes have declined to comment, but Friedman states Chayka is not involved in any team business, hasn't attended practices, and sources indicate his office has been cleaned out. He is also refusing to return phone calls or messages from media.

Craig Morgan, owner and writer for azcoyotesinsider.com, asked a spokesperson for the team whether Chayka was still the general manager on Saturday. He was told "no comment."

Morgan said that it appears the opportunity Chayka was presented with was not with another team, but rather outside of the NHL.

At the time he became general manager in 2016, Chayka was the youngest GM in the NHL at just 26-years-old. Before that, he served as an assistant general manager with the organization after working in the sports analytics field for a few years.

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