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Toronto Maple Leafs: Re-Evaluating the NHL’s Choice of Captains

By Stephen Nixon

SAN JOSE, CA - JANUARY 26: Auston Matthews #34 and John Tavares #91 of the Toronto Maple Leafs pose prior to the 2019 Honda NHL All-Star Game at SAP Center on January 26, 2019 in San Jose, California. (Photo by Bruce Bennett/Getty Images)
SAN JOSE, CA - JANUARY 26: Auston Matthews #34 and John Tavares #91 of the Toronto Maple Leafs pose prior to the 2019 Honda NHL All-Star Game at SAP Center on January 26, 2019 in San Jose, California. (Photo by Bruce Bennett/Getty Images) /
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Toronto Maple Leafs
TORONTO, ON – OCTOBER 02: John Tavares #91 of the Toronto Maple Leafs . (Photo by Vaughn Ridley/Getty Images) /

After three seasons without a captain, the Toronto Maple Leafs finally rewarded the ‘C’ to John Tavares at the beginning of the 2019-20 season.

For three seasons, one of the biggest news stories of the off-season was: “Who’s Going to Be the Next Captain of the Toronto Maple Leafs?

With a crop of young talent, there were plenty of people in the Leafs’ dressing room that seemed qualified for the Leafs captaincy.

Whether it was Mitch Marner, Auston Matthews or Morgan Rielly; you can make a case for either one of them to be the next leader.

But then, John Tavares showed up.

The hometown kid actually came home.

In one of the biggest free agent signings in NHL history, Tavares left New York and decided to play for his favorite team growing up.  Leafs’ fans couldn’t believe that Tavares wanted to come to home and try to win a Stanley Cup in Toronto.

For the last 30 years, every time a local kid comes home, it seems like they’re past their prime and only have a limited window to win: ie, Joe Nieuwendyk and Gary Roberts.

Tavares signed a seven-year ticket that will keep him here until 2025, as he attempts to bring a cup home for the first time since 1967.

Although Tavares is the local-boy and has been a previous captain in the NHL, it’s been proven over the last year that Matthews is the face of the franchise. He’s one of the top-five best players in the NHL and when he doesn’t play well, neither does the team.

He’s also not afraid to show his personality off the ice, so you’d think that a Matthews’ captaincy may make sense over Tavares?

Funny enough, there are a lot of NHL examples where they may have the wrong captain.

Let’s look at all 31 teams to see who made the right choice at captain and who didn’t, starting with the Central Division.

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