Toronto Maple Leafs: Will There Be A Centennial Season Captain?

The Toronto Maple Leafs are one of seven teams heading into the 2016-17 NHL season without a captain.

While that number may change in coming weeks as the season approaches, the Toronto Maple Leafs are in no rush to name a captain at this time.

But it would be nice to have one for the centennial season, no?

Management isn’t in any rush to name a new captain, and they shouldn’t be. After all, Leafs’ brass should take as much time as they need to fully evaluate what they have in terms of leadership.

The next player they name captain will be tasked with leading the Toronto Maple Leafs to success in the future as the contend for a championship.

As of right now there are only two candidates that could possibly land on the table as captains for the future; however, there are also a number of other players that could be candidates as well if they’re looking for a veteran to wear the ‘C’.

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So if the organization feels that naming a captain for the centennial season, here are a couple of potential players that we could see don the ‘C’ on the new jerseys.

Nazem Kadri

Kadri is one of the players on the team who is teetering between a player of the future, as well as a player from the past regime.

Drafted in the Brian Burke era, Kadri struggled with consistency in the NHL and didn’t fully cement his future with the Toronto Maple Leafs until he signed a six-year contract with the team this past spring.

If the Leafs are looking for a player with NHL experience, a hometown boy, and who was part of the team’s playoff run in 2013, then Kadri could be in the running to be the team’s next captain.

James van Riemsdyk

The biggest thing JVR has going for him is NHL experience, as well as Stanley Cup playoff experience. He was with the Philadelphia Flyers when they made the run to the Cup Finals in 2010, and was a large part of Toronto’s playoff success in 2013.

He’s experienced both the highs and lows as a Toronto Maple Leaf (and there have been many lows), so he shouldn’t have any problems in terms of adjusting to a leadership role.

But neither Kadri or JVR seem like the ‘perfect’ candidate for the next Leafs captain.

Which brings us to, in my opinion, the best (on the current roster) player to wear the ‘C’ in the centennial season.

Morgan Rielly

A large part of the team’s future has to be with this young man, especially since they inked him to a new, shiny 6-year deal. He’ll be heading into his fourth NHL season, and has experienced the limelight and microscope Leafs’ players are under every day.

Rielly has proven that he’s not one to shirk his responsibilities, and even cites former team captain Dion Phaneuf as one of the players he’s looked up to. The two share a very close bond, so Rielly has probably picked up a few tips from his former teammate about how to handle being a captain in Toronto.

He’s experienced majority of the controversy the team has faced, and is young enough that he won’t hit his prime until the Leafs are contending for the playoffs. To top that all off, Rielly does have leadership experience, having captained the WHL’s Moose Jaw Warriors in his third year with the team.

But the timing isn’t quite so right with any of these three players, so perhaps the team should hold off on naming one for the centennial season, and go with four alternate captains instead.

Naming a young and up-and-coming player, like Mitch Marner, William Nylander, or Auston Matthews would make sense, except for the fact that Nylander is the only one of the three with NHL experience, and he’s got less than half a season of it.

Giving Matthews the captaincy is tempting, of course, but to name him captain before he’s even played a game in the NHL would put an insurmountable pressure any player, even one as mature and poised as Matthews.

The Toronto Maple Leafs should wait a couple of years, or even after this season, to evaluate his on-ice and off-ice performance, if they’re even considering naming him captain.

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If it’s in the Toronto Maple Leafs plans to name a captain in their centennial season, Rielly certainly has the qualities and experience needed to be the next one. But Brendan Shanahan, Lou Lamoriello, and Mike Babcock (among others) will be the ones to decide that.

And if it happens that they decide the team doesn’t need a captain next season, then so be it. After all, who knows this team better than those three men? They’ve coached and played with great captains in their respective NHL careers, and we must trust in the Shanaplan.

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