Rumor: Leafs considering stripping John Tavares of captaincy (per Kypreos)

[Sypher04]

Rather surprised this doesn’t appear to be a discussion happening anywhere (unless I’ve missed it which is possible) but allegedly Kypreos said on radio on Monday that the Leafs are seriously considering taking the captaincy away from JT and naming Matthews captain.

If true, I mean, I get it. If this happens though I feel bad for Tavares. It’s not all his fault what’s transpired here under his leadership and this is an awful market to have something like this go down in as it will be talked about and analyzed to death and there will probably be some degree of undue character assassination that accompanies it.

That all said. This is clearly Auston Matthews’ team and I think he will be the captain sooner than later. Can this not wait a year though so as to not publicly embarrass Tavares?

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[Burnie97]

At this point... just make it next year. Seems the most natural way to do it.

That's all I think of it.

 

[NJG]

At this point... just make it next year. Seems the most natural way to do it.

That's all I think of it.

Exactly. This is stupid to be talking about now when he has one year left on his contract, just let him keep it... why even make the drama?

 

[Confucius]

If true it’s Just another embarrassing decision. There was a time when only the Captain or Alternate could talk to the refs. These days anybody on the team does, so who cares there is no need. What would be the difference?

 

[Mckay]

Literally would just be a pointless PR move to make it look like they actually made positive changes to the forwards.

 

[OVO16]

Yeah its a pointless move to make now, with Tavares leaving next year. The Captaincy should've always been given to Morgan Reilly

 

[Dr.Funk]

Stopped reading as soon as I got to Kypreos

 

[Amadeus]

Kypreos has sources.

This decision though is better made next year than right now.

 

[Bomber0104]

That doesn't sound believable.

 

[Leafsfan74]

Rather surprised this doesn’t appear to be a discussion happening anywhere (unless I’ve missed it which is possible) but allegedly Kypreos said on radio on Monday that the Leafs are seriously considering taking the captaincy away from JT and naming Matthews captain.

If true, I mean, I get it. If this happens though I feel bad for Tavares. It’s not all his fault what’s transpired here under his leadership and this is an awful market to have something like this go down in as it will be talked about and analyzed to death and there will probably be some degree of undue character assassination that accompanies it.

That all said. This is clearly Auston Matthews’ team and I think he will be the captain sooner than later. Can this not wait a year though so as to not publicly embarrass Tavares?

Tavares has been pumping Matthews tires for awhile, he knows how this will evolve.

If I am JT I go to the front office and suggest that he offer Matthews the C. Go and have a beer, coffee, fruit latte tea with sprinkles and whipped cream, whatever it is this generation drinks, and have him speak to Matty directly.

Matthews will suspect why they are meeting anyways I'm sure and he will decide what he is comfortable with. They can both be diplomatic, JT will insist, tell him "you've earned it, it's time" yadda yadda.

The team will enter on a positive note, fans will show their appreciation for both players including JT being unselfish etc.

It's going to happen one way or another. If it doesn't happen until after his contract expires it just increases his chances that the Leafs don't offer him a final contract (at a lower AAV and term obviously) because it allows the team the opportunity to pass on the C by default since JT will move on.

 

[Evilhomer]

Tavares has been pumping Matthews tires for awhile, he knows how this will evolve.

If I am JT I go to the front office and suggest that he offer Matthews the C. Go and have a beer, coffee, fruit latte tea with sprinkles and whipped cream, whatever it is this generation drinks, and have him speak to Matty directly.

Matthews will suspect why they are meeting anyways I'm sure and he will decide what he is comfortable with. They can both be diplomatic, JT will insist, tell him "you've earned it, it's time" yadda yadda.

The team will enter on a positive note, fans will show their appreciation for both players including JT being unselfish etc.

It's going to happen one way or another. If it doesn't happen until after his contract expires it just increases his chances that the Leafs don't offer him a final contract (at a lower AAV and term obviously) because it allows the team the opportunity to pass on the C by default since JT will move on.

And at the end of the day it will mean absolutely nothing.

 

[Larcos_Unal]

They handed out so many NMCs that this is the only change they're able to make to the core...simply pathetic management.

 

[Kazparov]

Don't believe it for a second.

Makes great talk radio/ tv.

This organization has shown no desire to take a hard road with its players.

Edit: what does it even accomplish anyway? John is still there, still a voice in the room. If you want to change the leadership he has to leave the team.

 

[socko]

Maybe they'll really shake things up and change the goal scoring song again.

 

[GoonieFace]

I was really intrigued, until I got to “of captaincy”

 

[CincoHolio]

I don't think it's pointless at all to do it now. The sooner you get it off of Tavares the better. Why wait? This team is hella stale and even if superficial, needs a shake-up in the worst way.

 

[Leafsfan74]

Maybe they'll really shake things up and change the goal scoring song again.

Might as well, it won't be heard much once playoff time rolls around anyways...

 

[Griffin76]

Tavares has been pumping Matthews tires for awhile, he knows how this will evolve.

If I am JT I go to the front office and suggest that he offer Matthews the C. Go and have a beer, coffee, fruit latte tea with sprinkles and whipped cream, whatever it is this generation drinks, and have him speak to Matty directly.

Matthews will suspect why they are meeting anyways I'm sure and he will decide what he is comfortable with. They can both be diplomatic, JT will insist, tell him "you've earned it, it's time" yadda yadda.

The team will enter on a positive note, fans will show their appreciation for both players including JT being unselfish etc.

It's going to happen one way or another. If it doesn't happen until after his contract expires it just increases his chances that the Leafs don't offer him a final contract (at a lower AAV and term obviously) because it allows the team the opportunity to pass on the C by default since JT will move on.

This is what will happen so everybody comes out looking good.

 

[Tie Domi Esquire]

Maybe they'll really shake things up and change the goal scoring song again.

They tried but the pop song they chose was too offensive so they had to change it again

 

[Stephen]

Tavares has been pumping Matthews tires for awhile, he knows how this will evolve.

If I am JT I go to the front office and suggest that he offer Matthews the C. Go and have a beer, coffee, fruit latte tea with sprinkles and whipped cream, whatever it is this generation drinks, and have him speak to Matty directly.

Matthews will suspect why they are meeting anyways I'm sure and he will decide what he is comfortable with. They can both be diplomatic, JT will insist, tell him "you've earned it, it's time" yadda yadda.

The team will enter on a positive note, fans will show their appreciation for both players including JT being unselfish etc.

It's going to happen one way or another. If it doesn't happen until after his contract expires it just increases his chances that the Leafs don't offer him a final contract (at a lower AAV and term obviously) because it allows the team the opportunity to pass on the C by default since JT will move on.

I dunno, this scenario comes across as emotionally inauthentic to me.

More likely JT holds onto the “C” because he has a true belief in his ability to help the Leafs win and as a driven athlete is not going to walk away from a challenge and the honour of the position, and will look to extend his time in Toronto because it makes sense for himself and his family.

While this team has been Matthews’ for a while, I don’t think JT is going to be happy to anoint someone else to be alpha dog symbolically while he faces an uncertain contractual future.

I think JT holds onto the C at all costs, dignity intact, head held up high, better or for worse and if Matthews wants it, he can wait. In anything it’s probably being floated out there because it’s been back channeled to JT and it was dismissed.

 

[LeafGrief]

Frankly, I’m quite surprised at how little fans seem to think the Captaincy matters. I think this is one of the easiest, yet most significant organizational shakeups they can make. But people are like meh, we don’t want to hurt JT’s ego with this.

I think the captaincy matters a ton, and JT has not delivered on the job. I don’t give a rat’s ass about his ego, and while I think that Marner is the one who really needs to be humbled, the team’s entire schtick of “err that’s a hard choice to make, we’ll put it off until next year” is the same shit that means we keep running it back year after year after year.

No, changing the captain won’t make us killers in the playoffs, but the same captain sure as hell isn’t going to get the boys going. Same core players, same locker room leadership, same shit, different day, run it back because anything else is just too uncomfortable.

 

[keonsbitterness]

The Leafs should set a new trend by naming a General and two Colonels.

 

[Buds17]

How to make an unnecessarily huge deal out of the captaincy while somehow surrounding it all with an atmosphere that's befitting of a (figurative) circus.

Let the season play out and make any desired changes afterwards.

 

[IPS]

How many times did Thornton, Marleau and Pavelski switch captaincy during their prime years trying to win a championship with San Jose?

 

[Leafsfan74]

I dunno, this scenario comes across as emotionally inauthentic to me.

More likely JT holds onto the “C” because he has a true belief in his ability to help the Leafs win and as a driven athlete is not going to walk away from a challenge and the honour of the position, and will look to extend his time in Toronto because it makes sense for himself and his family.

While this team has been Matthews’ for a while, I don’t think JT is going to be happy to anoint someone else to be alpha dog symbolically while he faces an uncertain contractual future.

I think JT holds onto the C at all costs, dignity intact, head held up high, better or for worse and if Matthews wants it, he can wait. In anything it’s probably being floated out there because it’s been back channeled to JT and it was dismissed.

I think holding onto the C decreases the Leafs chance in re-signing him. They will have the perfect reason to not sign him since they want to hand the C over to Matthews without any friction. A convenient situation. "We thank John for his time here as captain and wish him all the best. A new chapter has begun now".

If he hands it off himself, he does so while in full control. An honourable passing of the torch. It's been done before and it reflects well on the former captain to do so. Then when the year comes to an end with their annual playoff defeat in the First Round, they can talk to Johns camp about a potential contract without the C hanging over the negotiation

If he is still the C, they will be less interested as it provides them an easy way to wash their hands of the decision. If he is still C you want a clean end of the relationship between player and team so you can move on. If he has already relinquished the C, that motivation isn't there.