Dr. Hayley Wickenheiser has announced she is leaving the Toronto Maple Leafs after spending the last eight seasons with the team.
Wickenheiser originally joined the Maple Leafs in 2018 as assistant director of player development. In 2021, she was promoted to senior director of player development, and then in 2022, she was named assistant general manager.
However, after eight years with the Maple Leafs, she is now leaving the team.
Hayley Wickenheiser Makes Announcement on Maple Leafs’ Future
Taking to her social media on Thursday, Wickenheiser revealed that she is leaving the Maple Leafs after spending eight seasons with the franchise in the front office.
“For the past eight seasons, it has been an incredible honor to work for the Toronto Maple Leafs. Over the last few days, John Chayka and I had several discussions about my role moving forward. During those conversations, my expectation was that I would be in a position to continue to have a significant impact within the organization. However, it became clear that his leadership group envisioned a different path,” Wickenheiser wrote on Instagram.
“Since joining the club in 2018, I have been immensely proud of the work our player development team has accomplished. I want to sincerely thank the incredibly talented individuals, coaches, management, and players whom I have been fortunate enough to work alongside over the last eight years. I am deeply grateful for the opportunity, wish the team nothing but the best moving forward, and look forward to the next chapter.”
Hayley Wickenheiser is a Hockey Legend
One of the great women’s hockey players of all time, Wickenheiser won four Olympic Gold Medals for Team Canada and one Silver Medal. She was a member of Team Canada’s women’s national hockey team for 23 years, scoring 168 goals and 211 assists in 276 games. She was the team captain in 2010 when Team Canada won gold in Vancouver. After retiring from hockey, Wickenheiser became a medical doctor, graduating in 2021.
Her departure from the Maple Leafs’ organization leaves a big hole, but with new Maple Leafs GM John Chayka taking over the team’s front office, he has been making a bunch of changes. On Thursday, the team announced that several long-tenured members of the team’s front office had been fired from their posts. Now, Wickenheiser is also no longer a member of the team’s front office after it became clear that she and Chayka did not have the same vision for her role going forward.
At this time, it is unclear if the Maple Leafs will replace Wickenheiser in the team’s front office with someone else. What is clear is that Chayka is cleaning house right now and getting rid of many people left over from the last few front offices under Kyle Dubas and Brad Treliving, as it feels like many of those who were in the team’s upper management under those GMs are no longer with the team.
As for Wickenheiser, she is a medical doctor, so she has an amazing career to fall back on, but we’ll see if she catches on with another NHL team.
Hayley Wickenheiser Makes Major Maple Leafs Announcement