Could we see a captaincy shift in Toronto this summer?
When Paul Maurice stepped down as Jets head coach and Rick Bowness was named the team's new coach, one of the first things he did was remove the captaincy from the club's long-serving captain, Blake Wheeler. At the time, he and teammates were not pleased about the decision, but in fairness to Bowness, he didn't know much about the leadership group and felt that a change was needed to give some of the younger players a chance to step up.
Many thought the Jets would crash and burn this season because of the decision, but the Jets banded together and ended up making the playoffs after missing the season before with much of the same roster. A letter can give a player a lot of confidence, but it also comes with a lot of pressure. It's also a huge honour - one that is earned and deserved. Sometimes, however, captaincy is awarded to a player before it is truly earned and the "C" can also remain on their sweater even when it may be time to shift it to someone else.
The Leafs are facing a lot of changes this summer after President Brendan Shanahan relieved now former GM Kyle Dubas of his duties just over one week ago. One of those changes might just end up being a new coach. Then the question becomes; with a new coach, does the team need a new captain?
Could the Leafs name head into the 2023-24 season with a new captain? It might be a long shot, but it's quite possible - especially if Auston Matthews signs an extension before the season. When Tavares was named captain, Matthews, Mitch Marner and William Nylander were just entering their 20's and were all fresh faces in the NHL. Now, this same group of players have become veterans and have quietly become the leaders for the Leafs while providing much more personality than the stoic Tavares.
Marner and Matthews have worn the «A» on their jersey the past few seasons and the longest serving Leaf Morgan Rielly, who many thought should have been named captain, make up the rest of the leadership group behind Tavares. Maybe it's time that one of those three be given the chance to lead the team, since it hasn't worked for the Buds in the postseason under Tavares' charge.
Morgan Rielly is probably the right choice if the team does decide to name a new captain next season. Rielly scored some very important goals for the team against Tampa, and while it was Tavares who eventually scored the game-winner in OT of Game 6, it was Rielly who helped get them to that point, often looking like the best player on the ice for either team all series long. I also think that the move would be better received if they passed the captaincy to Rielly as opposed to if they passed it to Matthews, as Rielly is, as mentioned above, the longest-tenured Leaf. He is also already signed long-term, to a team-friendly deal in comparison to some of his counterparts in other markets. Meanwhile, Matthews is expected to wait and see what the direction of the team is before he'll agree to sign his extension this summer.
| POLL | ||
MAI 28 | 52 ANSWERS Could we see a captaincy shift in Toronto this summer? Should the Leafs strip Tavares of the "C" this summer? | ||
| Yes | 26 | 50 % |
| No | 24 | 46.2 % |
| Only if the | 2 | 3.8 % |
| Only if the | 0 | 0 % |
| List of polls | ||
