The Toronto Maple Leafs have named Auston Matthews the 26th captain in franchise history.
This move does not come as any surprise for fans of the NHL or the Maple Leafs. Since Auston Matthews got to Toronto, it felt like the Maple Leafs were his team. He was one of the faces of the franchises. Matthews’s play only backed up the statement that he is the face of the Maple Leafs.
He has been an alternate captain of the Maple Leafs since 2019. Not to mention, Matthews has recorded 40-plus goals in six of his eight seasons, including 69 goals last season with the Maple Leafs.
Thus, many felt this team needed a new direction with Matthews in the spotlight. Around a similar time last offseason, Matthews signed a new four-year contract, which kicked in on July 1st. This was the next logical step for Matthews, who was to be named captain.
For the last five seasons, John Tavares, the hometown boy, has been the captain of the Maple Leafs. Before coming to Toronto, Tavares was the captain of the New York Islanders. Ahead of his second season in Toronto on October 2nd, 2019, Tavares was named the 25th captain of the Maple Leafs. Remember, Tavares signed a seven-year deal with the Maple Leafs in the summer of 2018.
Over that time, the Maple Leafs won one playoff series in 2023 against the Tampa Bay Lightning in the first round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs. For Toronto, that was their first playoff series win since 2004. However, under Tavares’s leadership, expectations were higher.
Not to take anything away from Tavares and his role as the captain of the Maple Leafs, he did a great job; it’s not his fault the team did not win; however, he was part of the core that came up short. Sure, he fulfilled a childhood dream, but sometimes, a new voice is needed.
Again, this was the logical next step for the Maple Leafs as Tavares is entering the final year of the seven-year, $77 million contract. There is uncertainty surrounding Tavares’s future in Toronto. He would like to stay, but it depends on what suits the player and the organization.
Tavares will leave that up to his agent, Pat Brisson, to work on with Maple Leafs GM Brad Treliving. If an extension is worked out, it will be for less money than he makes now.
Speaking of Treliving, according to reports, the Leafs GM and Tavares were closely involved in a succession plan. Transitioning the “C” started a few days after the Maple Leafs lost in the playoffs. This plan of putting the “C” on AM34 was discussed on the Full Press Hockey Podcast on May 14th when Vox Media NHL Analyst Bruce Zeman joined the show.
“And getting back to stripping Tavares of the “C,” what I hope they would do is they would to go to him and say, ‘Hey listen, this is what we’d like to do.’ And the way they could spin that is to say that John Tavares has decided that he wants to give the “C” to Auston Matthews, Bruce Zeman said on the Full Press NHL Podcast.
The Maple Leafs organization’s primary concern in making this decision was not embarrassing a player who wanted to be in Toronto.
“That would make it a little less palatable because the one thing you want to do, I mean for the knock on him, he’s been a pretty loyal soldier for the time he has been in Toronto, Zeman said on the Full Press NHL Podcast. “You don’t want to embarrass the guy. You don’t want to make him look bad. So maybe if you go to him and say hey, listen, this is what the organization wants to do; we’d like you to do this. I mean, still give him an “A,” but this is Matthews’s team.”
The 26-year-old Matthews will become the first American captain of the Maple Leafs in franchise history. He is just the second non-Canadian captain after Swedish icon Mats Sundin wore the “C” from 1997 to 2008.
Let’s see if the change in leadership with Auston Matthews yields success in the playoffs.
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