Handing Over the 'C' Must Not Have Been Easy, But It's What Made John Tavares a Perfect Toronto Maple Leafs Captain
John Tavares' last duty as Toronto Maple Leafs captain is what real leadership looks like. Auston Matthews should take notes, says Michael Traikos.
Take note, Auston Matthews. This is what leadership looks like. Real leadership.
Handing over the captaincy must not have been easy for John Tavares. When he was named captain of the Toronto Maple Leafs five years ago, the thinking was that he would have led the team to a Stanley Cup by now. At the very least, most would have assumed that the team would have won more than one playoff round.
Instead, that task will fall on Auston Matthews, who takes over and tries to do what Tavares — and what Doug Gilmour, Mats Sundin and countless others — could not.
But this was not a stripping of the captaincy. Rather, like Joe Biden stepping down in the middle of a presidential race, this was an acknowledgment that for the betterment of Toronto, a new voice was needed.
Tavares is still a very good player. But he’s not the player he was when he first came to Toronto. He’s certainly not the player that Matthews is.
For one, he’s five years older than when he was named captain. And when you’re in your mid-30s, those five years start adding up.
He’s now a stride slower. He’s less productive. His role as a top-line center is starting to change, especially now that Craig Berube is behind the bench.
Two years ago, Tavares had 36 goals and 80 points. Last season, he dropped to 29 goals and 65 points. A month from now, he’ll be celebrating his 34th birthday, which in hockey terms, is around the age when slow-of-foot centers start transitioning to the wing.
And so, in a decision that may have been forced upon him, Tavares is doing what all captains should do and is putting the team ahead of himself.
What a selfless move. What a shining example of leadership.
Again, this is what made Tavares — and not Matthews or Morgan Rielly — the natural choice to wear the ‘C’ in the first place.
Looking back, you could argue the Leafs made the wrong call. After all, the Leafs didn’t win under Tavares. Not in the way that anyone had expected them to. Out of the five years that Toronto made the playoffs with Tavares wearing the ‘C,’ the Leafs made it out of the first round just once. Tavares, who at times was the highest-paid Leaf — and one of the highest-paid players in the NHL — had 10 goals and 19 points in 31 playoff games as the captain.
That's not enough. Not even close.
Like Mitch Marner, who went missing against the Bruins in this year's first-round loss, Tavares also underperformed when the Leafs needed him the most. With Matthews and William Nylander missing parts of the series, Tavares had just one goal and one assist in seven games.
That's not what you want — nor what you expect — out of a captain.
Statistically speaking, Tavares obviously won’t go down as one of the best captains in the history of the Leafs. You need playoff success for that. You need moments. You need examples where you stood up and took over and made a difference. There was really never any of that.
But he also won’t go down as one of the worst. Tavares was never a difference-maker the way Sundin was. He didn’t lead with his fists and his body like Wendel Clark did. He wasn’t a rah-rah guy like Gilmour. But he also wasn’t a me-first guy.
Often criticized as being robotic or devoid of emotion, Tavares was a master of stoicism. He led by example. And his example was of a quiet nature, where he never cheated you on effort and always did the right thing. He was OK with sharing the spotlight and with passing the torch.
Back when he signed with the Leafs in 2018, Tavares made then-GM Kyle Dubas promise that him signing would not result in one of the younger players being shown the door — even if it meant leaving a million or so dollars on the free agency floor. Today, in handing over the captaincy to Matthews, he made a similar move.
This was the right move.
This is no longer Tavares’ team. With one year remaining on a contract that has looked worse and worse with each passing year, the talk will now turn to whether Tavares can still be good enough to warrant an extension. That will, of course, depend on what he can do offensively this season. And, also, how much of a discount he will be willing to accept.
Tavares probably deserves it. Letter or not, this is what leadership looks like. The best thing that Matthews can do is try and follow that lead as he attempts to get Toronto to a place that Tavares and many others failed.