The Toronto Maple Leafs have called a press conference for Tuesday morning where the team is expected to announce that Auston Matthews will replace John Tavares as team captain.
Tavares, captain of the Leafs since 2019, has one year remaining on the seven-year contract he left the Islanders to sign back in 2018.
This can be a tricky situation, stripping your captain of his letter and handing it over to another.
In 2018, just as Tavares was settling in with his new team in Toronto, the Panthers made a similar move.
Derek MacKenzie had been Florida’s captain since being given the honor at a team retreat at West Point in 2016.
Two years later, however, the Panthers approached rising star Sasha Barkov to see if he was interested in being captain of the team.
“He means so much to the organization,’’ coach Bob Boughner said, “and the guys in our room. This was the right move to make at the right time. It’s time for one of our core guys to take over.”
Barkov, then 23, was the core player selected to be the 10th captain in franchise history.
MacKenzie, honorably, stepped aside.
“This is awesome and a dream come true,’’ Barkov said in 2018. “This is probably the biggest honor of my life, to be the captain of an NHL team.
“To be drafted here and grow here, it’s a real honor. I like to work hard and hopefully someone will look up to me, try and work as hard as I do, love the game as much as I do. It’s not just me [leading]. It’s everyone in our room. We are going to do this together.”
And, do this together, they did.
Barkov celebrated the end of his sixth season as captain of the Panthers by becoming the first Finnish captain to ever hoist the Stanley Cup.
But, back in 2018, it took a guy like MacKenzie to understand what was going on within his own organization.
Tavares probably does as well.
Matthews is not only the best player on the Maple Leafs, but one of the top players in the entire league.
Although Tavares will remain a leader at least for one more season in Toronto, this is Matthews’ team — for better or worse.
The Panthers were in a much different situation as was MacKenzie.
He knew that 2018-19 season might be his last in the NHL, and it was.
MacKenzie had been working through a shoulder injury which was in much worse shape than he cared to admit.
In the opening game of that season in Tampa Bay, the now-former Panthers captain was slammed into the goal cage during a play in the Florida zone.
MacKenzie’s shoulder was done. He did not play another game that season — but he did join Boughner’s staff as an assistant coach and remained when Joel Quenneville took over once it was over.
“I was honored, and cherished being able to wear the ‘C’,’’ said MacKenzie, who is now as assistant coach with Andrew Brunette in Nashville.
“It was heartfelt and an easy decision.We have always had a great line of communication. When I took the ‘C,’ I knew it was going to be for a year or two to give these guys a chance to grow and really enjoy playing hockey.
“These guys have always controlled the room … At the end of the day, I want what’s best for those guys. I don’t know if it’s like a proud dad or what. I love the game and want to stick around to see these guys win a Stanley Cup. … Their concern when I first became captain was, this day might come. It was the least of my concern.
“By considering me, if I could wear it for two weeks, that would be the highlight of my career. Its something I will cherish. I don’t think a lot of fourth-line guys in my position get this honor. Two weeks or two years, I was proud of this.”
The Leafs will soon find out if changing their captain comes as smoothly.
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