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

[fancy lad]

I would absolutely take the C away from Tavares. From my memory as a Leaf fan, he is arguably one of the worst leaf captains i can remember. His entire time with the club has been defined by a lack of leadership and management trying to bring in savvy old timer veterans to make up for the lack of leadership.

I don't know if giving it to Mathews is the move, but stripping Tavares most definitely is.

 

[sxvnert]

Zero chance of this happening. JT whined when he was taken off PP1, this would destroy him.

 

[thewave]

He should be stripped. He looks like an anti motivational guy on the bench. His C stands for CASH man.

 

[tuckerintensity]

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?

It's Limp Dykreos, so I'll believe it when someone reputable reports it.

And I agree, this is dumb. He's got one year on his contract, JT being captain is not an issue with this team.

 

[TMLBlueandWhite]

Leadership: the ability of an individual to inspire others to achieve a shared objective or vision.

The lack of leadership on this team has been apparent for a very long time. I don't need to be in the locker room to see it either. It's evident in the annual first round exits every year.

Unless they were actually trying to go out early each spring that is.

If winning the cup was the goal then Tavares has proven as competent as I would as Captain. They could have just hired me for a fraction of the cost. The results would have been the same.

In fact they might have been better.

The $11M a year I wouldn't be getting paid would have been spent somewhere else more productively. So far they've shovelled $77M into Tavares' bank account. All that money has bought them no more rounds than they would have achieved without him.

If stripping Tavares of his Captaincy means future UFAs won't come here to be overpaid to underachieve that's a good thing.

 

[Nineteen67]

They promised CHANGE.

Why wouldn’t RD34 be the Captain representing a failed era

 

[Madap]

“Massive changes coming to the Leafs this offseason”…

This is nothing more than a PR stunt and will change literally nothing on ice. We are the joke of the league and for good reason.

 

[ACC1224]

“Massive changes coming to the Leafs this offseason”…

This is nothing more than a PR stunt and will change literally nothing on ice. We are the joke of the league and for good reason.

How is it a PR stunt? The Leafs didn't announce that.

 

[TakeTheBody]

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

I agree it's pointless but not sure he leaves next year. IF he stays it will be under three million though. HE will have to figure from there if Dorothy was right " there's no place like home"

 

[robertmac43]

Stripping makes it sound harsher then it needs to be.

It's just the natural progression of this team and something we knew was going to happen for some time now.

 

[Madap]

How is it a PR stunt? The Leafs didn't announce that.

Sure, I meant if they went through with it.

 

[Da Mash]

Now that the Marner trade crap the media spews is dying down......Now they create another stir and make another false statement that the Leafs want to "strip" the C off Taveres.

Always drama in leaf land and alot of fans think its gospel.

Worst media in sports is in Toronto. Every Tom , Dick and Harry gets behind a microphone or tweets crap to get hits.

Enjoy the summer....once this dies down.....the mediots will fabricate another story.

"Hey Tom.....lets go to Taveres house and ask him in person " or maybe we go to his parents house to get a quote.

 

[Nineteen67]

If they really wanted to signify change, give Rielly the C and Domi and Tanev the A and let the other guys play and not worry about it.

Rielly has done more for the organization than anyone else.

 

[hotpaws]

if he had any class he would have voluntarily given up the C a couple of seasons ago , Johnny however doesn't give a f*** about anything but himself so he'll make the Leafs turn this into media circus by having to strip him of the C if they want to give it to Mathews

 

[egd27]

I feel like Matthews wants to win a cup as captain. I would do it now. If he’s your real captain then do it. Why delay a year if you’re already going to do it?

Oh, so that's why they keep getting bounced early.

 

[NVious]

They should, the guy utterly failed:
0/6 (5 if you count the 1 playoff game series) in going ppg in the playoffs
1 series win 6 years
24 points in 38 playoff games
3 points in his last 12 playoff games

All for the low low price of 11 million dollars.

Obviously you go to the guy and ask him to give it up, but if he doesn't stripping him is such an easy/non-controversial decision it shouldn't even be talked about.

He wasn't just bad, he was abysmal for 11 mill. But again the Leafs play in a different NHL; national happiness league and that would be an awfully mean thing to do, maybe some people would be unhappy with it, so we can't do that (Leafs players have won the happiness cup every year btw).

 

[Da Mash]

Oh no...we never won a cup with Clark, Gilmour, Sundin and Sittler as Captains....

I had no idea that was the missing piece to winning the cup...

 

[Nineteen67]

if he had any class he would have voluntarily given up the C a couple of seasons ago , Johnny however doesn't give a f*** about anything but himself so he'll make the Leafs turn this into media circus by having to strip him of the C if they want to give it to Mathews

Why Matthews? What has Matthews ever done to make you think he’s a captain?

 

[Machinae]

That's a grim look to consider doing this on his final year when you could ride it out and do it cleanly next season.

Would likely also put to bed any idea of re-signing him at a reduced cap hit.

I'm super biased due to sharing the same background as JT so I will always support him, but I could see how this is the right move. The team will have opinions from their own players and staff that we will never be privy to, that would lead to a decision such as this. Maybe a Matthews captaincy could spark a change as he is unquestionably the best player on this team and the guy who appeals stronger to his peers in the same age range.

JT works his ass off and is the ultimate pro, I think he deserves better than this, but it is fair to question his leadership and whether it was the wrong fit for a group of eccentrics.

 

[hotpaws]

Why Matthews? What has Matthews ever done to make you think he’s a captain?

what has Tavares ever done that people believed he deserved to be Captain in the first place ? the guys a mumbling idiot but for some reason some fans do cartwheels defending him while chucking his teammates under the bus to deflect criticism away from him and it's been going on since jr

 

[Nineteen67]

what has Tavares ever done that people believed he deserved to be Captain in the first place ? the guys a mumbling idiot but for some reason some fans do cartwheels defending him while chucking his teammates under the bus to deflect criticism away from him and it's been going on since jr

You never gave the case for Matthews. Look at the people he associates with and tell me you think he should be the captain of the Leafs.

 

[rojac]

Fans have no to idea about what goes in a team's locker room and only a small windows into the dynamics between various players. Why do they all seem so confident when discussing who the captain should be?

I'd really love to see more fans show awareness of how little they know.

 

[rojac]

It would be illogical to think being captain wouldn't make him feel more responsible for our teams success as captain.

Why is it illogical to considef that he may already feel as responsible as he every will? But it's probably a moot point anyways since none of us will ever truly know how responsible he feels. At best, we may know how responsible he says he feels.

 

[TMLBlueandWhite]

That's a grim look to consider doing this on his final year when you could ride it out and do it cleanly next season.

Would likely also put to bed any idea of re-signing him at a reduced cap hit.

I'm super biased due to sharing the same background as JT so I will always support him, but I could see how this is the right move. The team will have opinions from their own players and staff that we will never be privy to, that would lead to a decision such as this. Maybe a Matthews captaincy could spark a change as he is unquestionably the best player on this team and the guy who appeals stronger to his peers in the same age range.

JT works his ass off and is the ultimate pro, I think he deserves better than this, but it is fair to question his leadership and whether it was the wrong fit for a group of eccentrics.

Who said anything about re-signing him.

If they strip him of the "C" now that still gives them lots of time to find a good trade after he requests one. Which if he had any pride he would. Which means Tavares probably won't.

He'll stink up the ice one more year before going to Edmonton and winning it all there.

 

[robertmac43]

while chucking his teammates under the bus to deflect criticism away from him and it's been going on since jr

What JR career did you follow? lol