<p>Auston Matthews will be named the 26th captain in Toronto Maple Leafs history on <a href="https://theleafsnation.com/news/maple-leafs-to-name-auston-matthews-as-26th-captain-in-franchise-history">Wednesday</a> and by all accounts, John Tavares signed off on the impending move.</p>
<p>It was reported Monday that Matthews will be given the captaincy and the Maple Leafs will be holding a press conference on Wednesday afternoon to reveal further details.</p>
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<p>Tavares operated as the Maple Leafs&#8217; captain from October 2019 but Wednesday will represent a true changing of the guard. It wasn&#8217;t a hasty decision either, as The Athletic&#8217;s Chris Johnston reported that the Maple Leafs held a conversation with the 34-year-old shortly after the team was eliminated by the Boston Bruins in May.</p>
<p>&#8220;It&#8217;s a conversation that started, I think in a serious manner, as quickly as when the team&#8217;s season ended in May with that loss to Boston in the first round,&#8221; Johnston said Wednesday on <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2fTAd1utm0U">SportsCentre</a>.</p>
<p>&#8220;It&#8217;s my understanding that John Tavares, when he had his exit meeting a couple days after that Game 7 loss with team management, it was brought up that this was at least a possibility. And those conversations continued to a point where John Tavares was comfortable handing it off to Auston Matthews, and I think from the Leafs&#8217; organizational perspective, they&#8217;ve been thinking all along that this could be where they get eventually.&#8221;</p>
<p>Matthews has been the best player on the team since his rookie season and it&#8217;s a natural progression for the 26-year-old, who scored 69 goals and 108 points during the 2023-24 campaign. It was a spectacular individual season for Matthews, who recorded the most goals by any player since the 1995-96 campaign, then earned All-Star Game MVP honours on home ice in Toronto, while earning a Selke Trophy finalist designation.</p>
<p>Tavares is entering the final year of a seven-year, $77-million pact he signed with the Maple Leafs in July 2018, instantly becoming one of the highest-profile signings in franchise history. It appears unlikely that he&#8217;ll want to move on from the organization, even after his contract expires, with his roots and family firmly grounded in Toronto, but Wednesday&#8217;s move marks a change of direction, at least optically, for the Matthews-Era Maple Leafs.</p>
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Auston Matthews will be named the 26th captain in Toronto Maple Leafs history on <a href="https://theleafsnation.com/news/maple-leafs-to-name-auston-matthews-as-26th-captain-in-franchise-history">Wednesday</a> and by all accounts, John Tavares signed off on the impending move.

It was reported Monday that Matthews will be given the captaincy and the Maple Leafs will be holding a press conference on Wednesday afternoon to reveal further details.
<div class="bam-inline-promotion-block" data-max-length="2" data-placement-id="2106" data-context="web-content-promocard" data-property-id="324"></div>
Tavares operated as the Maple Leafs' captain from October 2019 but Wednesday will represent a true changing of the guard. It wasn't a hasty decision either, as The Athletic's Chris Johnston reported that the Maple Leafs held a conversation with the 34-year-old shortly after the team was eliminated by the Boston Bruins in May.

"It's a conversation that started, I think in a serious manner, as quickly as when the team's season ended in May with that loss to Boston in the first round," Johnston said Wednesday on <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2fTAd1utm0U">SportsCentre</a>.

"It's my understanding that John Tavares, when he had his exit meeting a couple days after that Game 7 loss with team management, it was brought up that this was at least a possibility. And those conversations continued to a point where John Tavares was comfortable handing it off to Auston Matthews, and I think from the Leafs' organizational perspective, they've been thinking all along that this could be where they get eventually."

Matthews has been the best player on the team since his rookie season and it's a natural progression for the 26-year-old, who scored 69 goals and 108 points during the 2023-24 campaign. It was a spectacular individual season for Matthews, who recorded the most goals by any player since the 1995-96 campaign, then earned All-Star Game MVP honours on home ice in Toronto, while earning a Selke Trophy finalist designation.

Tavares is entering the final year of a seven-year, $77-million pact he signed with the Maple Leafs in July 2018, instantly becoming one of the highest-profile signings in franchise history. It appears unlikely that he'll want to move on from the organization, even after his contract expires, with his roots and family firmly grounded in Toronto, but Wednesday's move marks a change of direction, at least optically, for the Matthews-Era Maple Leafs.
<h3><strong>Sponsored by bet365</strong></h3>
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Maple Leafs reportedly spoke to John Tavares about captaincy during exit meeting

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