Matthews getting the ‘C’ with Maple Leafs was inevitable, but timing is compelling

TORONTO — The first time Auston Matthews sported a sweater with the Toronto Maple Leafs logo emblazoned on the chest and a “C” stitched below the left shoulder was five years ago.

It was at the 2019 All-Star weekend in San Jose, where fans voted the game’s most dangerous shooter captain of his division.

Watching the festivities from afar, an eight-year-old hockey-loving boy in Toronto turned to his father and said: “That ‘C’ looks pretty good on Matthews, eh, Dad?”

The idea has been floating in the Hogtown ether for years, this inevitable coronation of the man fast-tracking his way to GLOAT (Greatest Leaf of All-Time) status as the dressing room’s official leader.

And on Wednesday morning at Real Sports Bar & Grill — during a staged letter-passing ceremony smashed right next to a soon-to-be-busy sports retail outlet — the 26-year-old Matthews will be named 26th captain of the Toronto Maple Leafs, succeeding John Tavares.

News that the best player on the team is receiving the honour should not arrive as a shock.

Matthews has already captained three NHL All-Star squads and was one of the first players named to Team USA’s 4 Nations Face-Off team. Surely, he’ll be a candidate to wear a letter for his country in Milan. (Conversely, though he captained Canada at the 2024 world championships, the 33-year-old Tavares will be in tough to make the national roster.)

Matthews already has a Hart, a Ted Lindsay and three Maurice “Rocket” Richard trophies on the mantle. He’ll come into 2024-25 hot off a Selke finalist nod he earned while scoring more goals (69) than anyone since he was born.

He’ll rake the highest cap hit ($13.25 million) of any NHLer this season when he begins his renewed four-year commitment as the first American captain of the Maple Leafs.

Matthews has matured as a player and as a person since the steady and safe Tavares was awarded the Leafs’ captaincy at the outset of the 2019-20 season.

It’s the timing of Toronto’s “C” change that is more compelling, considering Tavares still has one more season on his contract and has long proclaimed his pride in the honour and his intent to stay put.

This only works if Tavares is on board.

He is. And he’ll be in attendance for Wednesday’s photo op.

We’re sure Tavares will be classy and gracious and continue to lead by quiet example. Heck, he regularly refers to Matthews as “Papi” and has always been quick to call the younger centre the club’s most important player.

But that doesn’t mean this was Tavares’s idea, that it doesn’t sting a little.

“Everything is on the table. We will discuss everything,” Leafs president Brendan Shanahan said in May, after the Tavares-led Leafs failed to survive the first round of the playoffs.

Shanahan had been asked if he would approach Tavares about waiving his no-move clause, now that it’s apparent that his 65-point production is misaligned with his $11-million cap hit.

The Maple Leafs are nearing a crossroads with the 81st-highest scorer in the history of the NHL, and the removal of Tavares’s captaincy reminds that this is no longer his team.

Matthews’ new letter also provides a symbolic refresh to an even pricier Core Four that will now cost $46.65 million against the budget, with raises for Matthews and William Nylander kicking in.

Does it matter much, in the big picture?

Not really.

Captaincy changes are rare but not unheard of.

The L.A. Kings took the “C” from Dustin Brown and gave it to the younger and more worthy Anze Kopitar, though that switch followed two parades.

A couple of Matthews’ mentor-friends, Joe Thornton and Patrick Marleau, had the “C” unstitched from their uniform in San Jose and will still live out their lives as Sharks legends.

And the man Matthews leaped for the Leafs’ goal record, Rick Vaive, was stripped of the captaincy and dealt way back in those prickly Harold Ballard years.

Surely the captaincy matters to alpha dogs like the steady Tavares and edgier Matthews, and we are curious to see if the latter asserts himself more vocally.

But aside from selling another round of 34 replica sweaters — this time with more flair! — the impact of Toronto’s leadership amendment is largely symbolic.

Does it distract from the fact that Shanahan’s Maple Leafs are still on track to run back the same core that routinely fails to make an impact in the playoffs?

That they might have two hungry starting goalies, or that they might have two hungry No. 2s?

That their big summer roster swings involved no trades and the signing of a couple solid defencemen, Chris Tanev and Oliver Ekman-Larsson, who are 34 and 33, respectively?

No.

But that “C” does look pretty good on Auston Matthews.

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