The high-stakes game going on to Chayka’s left is still scoreless entering the third period. Moments ago, the GM was wearing a team-branded parka in the stands of the Gila River Arena while watching guys he hopes are the future of the franchise, like Dylan Strome and Clayton Keller, take part in the last day of rookie camp in mid-September. Now in his office, Chayka slips into a blue sports coat as the Pittsburgh Penguins and Nashville Predators — on the TV screen beside him — go at each other in Game 6 of the 2017 Stanley Cup Final. The NHL Network has been running a series of Cup-clinching games and Chayka has kept them on in the background. In the off-season, he hired one of the participants in the most recent showdown — former Pittsburgh assistant Rick Tocchet — to be the new head coach of the Coyotes. “They’re the fastest teams, but they’re not just all speed skaters out there,” he says of the Preds and Pens. “It’s speed of mind and decision-making process that separates these teams.”

Chayka has always moved at a quick pace himself. He learned to skate on a backyard rink built by his dad, Terry, a former Jr. B player. Like older sisters Meghan and Laura, he grew up in Jordan, Ont. — about a 15-minute drive from St. Catharines — playing a number of sports. Hockey, though, became a more singular focus as the years went on and he found himself on AAA teams, including a couple during his bantam and midget years that were coached by former Buffalo Sabres bench boss Ted Nolan and featured Nolan’s son, future L.A. King Jordan Nolan. Chayka, drafted 283rd overall by the Plymouth Whalers in the 2005 Ontario Hockey League Priority Selection, was a smart, six-foot-three player with a good shot. And even then, he always provided his body with the right fuel. “He’s the type of person who grows his own sprouts in the kitchen,” says Meghan.