The amount of insight I have into John Tavares and what makes him tick is absolutely non-existent. I think that goes for a lot of the people looking at the changing of the guard regarding the Leafs captaincy, but that doesn’t change the amount of opinions that are out there.
What I am willing to wager is that whether this move was initiated by Tavares, Treliving, Berube, Matthews, or someone else, the idea of giving up the captaincy is going to have some bittersweet aspects to it. Even for a true team guy. Tavares seems like a true team guy.
If the Leafs truly believe in themselves and that this group is going win a Stanley Cup together, John Tavares just gave away his right to lifting the Cup first.
Tavares just acknowledged that in his first six years in Toronto, the Leafs didn’t get it done and as a leader that had to hurt a little.
There have been plenty of criticisms of his quiet and calm demeanour, again ignoring that calm has its place. He was never the glorious quote the media sought when things were going poorly either from a lightning rod perspective or for calling anyone out. There were no emotions on his sleeve. He was not a Wendel Clark, Doug Gilmour, Dion Phaneuf type of leader, he was the lead by example model that Mats Sundin lived by. And with Tavares’ numbers declining last season, his example might not have been considered good enough.
That maybe sounds like a criticism of Tavares but it’s not meant to be. Sundin’s later years came with the benefit of being on worse Leafs teams. Even as he declined the rest of the team was so far behind him that he stood out as a cut above, Tavares didn’t have that luxury.
And while so much of what Tavares didn’t do will be a topic of conversation as a result of this change, it’s worth celebrating how many young players that Tavares has helped shaped the development paths of. How often he opened his home to guys like Knies, Cowan, and Minten. And of course, how Tavares set the new precedent of the Maple Leafs being a place that GTA kids would want to play to live out their dreams. That’s not a bad lasting legacy.
Whether or not this was a move of Tavares’ making or just one that he was willing to buy into, it was done in the team’s best interest. John Tavares just set things up for an increased likelihood that Auston Matthews will be a Leaf beyond his next contract. He acknowledged as a former superstar in the league that the Leafs biggest superstar would want the same accolades he enjoyed at this point in his career. And there is little doubt that many of the great things that John Tavares does will continue and he’ll be a primary support to Auston. When you look at the Sharks moving from Marleau to Thornton to Pavelski you can see where egos took hits but no one let it keep them from supporting the new leader. The same will apply to Tavares.
Like the moves made by the Sharks there comes an opportunity for the former captain to embrace their simplified role to improve their own outcomes. Both Marleau and Thornton saw increases to their offensive outputs after losing the C. In fact, Marleau had a career year. Getting the most out of Tavares at the 2C position might come through this decision and it will be interesting to see how John responds on the ice.
The partnership between Brad Treliving and John Tavares that Darren Dreger reported throughout the captaincy transition likely speaks to Tavares wanting to be a part of the Leafs beyond 2024-25 and a contract that sees Tavares end his career with the Leafs seems entirely plausible and a potential reasonable trade off for the organization. Tavares and his family are likely where they want to be and this ensures he achieves that. The fact that everything is being spoken of so amicably it may also point to a cap hit that is comfortable for the Leafs but with term on the excessive side. That was likely to be the cost of doing business even if the captaincy wasn’t being transitioned.
A different read on this would be that Tavares is ready to move on and he isn’t going to get in the Leafs way of their next steps. As unlikely as that seems to be, the Islanders also felt pretty confident about knowing John Tavares’ intentions.
No matter what level of importance you personally place on the captaincy, it clearly matters to the players in the room and this decision wasn’t made lightly. Tavares’ selflessness and through his actions, vote of confidence in Matthews speaks volumes about who he is, the direction the Leafs are going, and his desire to win.
