The Toronto Maple Leafs will be naming Auston Matthews of San Ramon, California their next captain according to Rogers Sportsnet on Monday. Matthews has been with the Maple Leafs for the last eight seasons and will reportedly take over from John Tavares of Mississauga, Ontario, who has been the Maple Leafs captain since 2019.
Interesting Decision
The naming of Matthews as Maple Leafs captain comes at a time when three of Toronto’s more high profile forwards (Matthews, William Nylander, and Mitch Marner) were not getting along during the Stanley Cup Playoffs. Rumors then swirled why Matthews all of a sudden did not play for the Maple Leafs in the third period of game four of the Maple Leafs’s first round playoff series against the Boston Bruins, or the fifth and sixth games of the series either. The Maple Leafs reported Matthews was not well. Remarkably, the Maple Leafs had remarkable success without Matthews as they tied the best out of seven series at three games apiece before losing the seventh game by a score of 2-1 in overtime.
It had widely been speculated that Maple Leafs General Manager Jim Treliving would trade Nylander, Marner or Matthews heading into the season. None of that looks like it is going to happen at this time. So, this basically means they will have to coexist in the most high profile hockey market. And what is ever more stunning is that the leadership responsibilities for Matthews is actually increasing.
Matthews in 2023-24
It is fair to say that Matthews has become one of the most consistent regular season snipers in the NHL. This past season he led the NHL with 69 goals and 51 even strength goals. Matthews also had 38 assists, 107 points, was a +31, with 20 penalty minutes, 29 power-play points, eight game-winning goals, one shorthanded point, 369 shots on goal, 705 faceoff wins, 93 blocked shots, 90 hits, 85 takeaways, and 54 giveaways. Matthews’s shorthanded point was the first in his career, and was an assist on a goal by Nylander in a 4-1 Maple Leafs win over the Columbus Blue Jackets on December 23.
Second non-Canadian captain in Maple Leafs history
Matthews is the second non-Canadian captain in Maple Leafs history. The first is Mats Sundin of Bromma, Sweden, who captained the Maple Leafs from 1997 to 2008.
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