The Toronto Maple Leafs already have a captain. Are you bored? Why are we talking about this?
Provocateur Nick Kypreos recently dropped a juicy rumour about the Toronto Maple Leafs captain situation, but to be honest with you, I'm not feeling it.
I've been a hockey fan for a long time, and during that time I've always wondered why people care so much about who the captain is.
I watch a lot of other sports, and I couldn't tell you who the captain of any other team is in any other sport. Do the Blue Jays have a captain? If so, I've never heard about it. Do they even have captains in baseball? Until now, I never even thought to google it.
Talk About Who the Toronto Maple Leafs Captain Should Be Is a Waste of Time
If other sports don't need captains, I don't know why hockey does. Sure, the rules state that only players with letters on their sweaters can talk to the refs, but other than that, who cares?
When the Toronto Maple Leafs named John Tavares captain, I thought it was a fine choice, and if they give the captaincy to Matthews I will also consider that a fine choice.
But.....
What's the point?
How do the Leafs benefit if Matthews is the captain and not Tavares? Will that magically put them in an easier division, give them a better general manager or get the team an actual starting goalie?
It will not.
What it will do is create a whole bunch of meaningless discussion and distraction. It could make it awkward in the dressing room and it might hurt Tavares' feelings and make him play badly.
It likely wouldn't have any affect, but any affect it did have would surely be negative.
So why bother?
I realize the summer is long and people love hockey and need to discuss something, but surely there are more interesting topics than who gets a letter on their sweater?
Is John Tavares a good captain? I don't know, I've never met him. I haven't been inside the Leafs dressing room and can't comment on his leadership abilities.
I also can't say if Auston Matthews would be a good leader, but based on his facial hair choices it does seem like he surrounds himself with yes-men and sycophants and could use a buddy who isn't
so impressed with him that he would tell the truth.
Would someone be a good leader despite that? Probably. But I do find it weird that while Matthews and Marner have both been huge failures in the playoffs, the fans only seem to blame Marner and want to run him out of town while weirdly wanting to give Matthews a promotion.