The Maple Leafs have now made it official, Papi is now Cappy. This is unquestionably the best path forward for the Maple Leafs and one that seemed destined from the moment that the Maple Leafs selected Auston Matthews first overall. Great players want the spotlight and the spotlight doesn’t get any brighter than wearing a ‘C’ in Toronto. Now it is a matter of living up to what that entails, and really Auston is pretty much there already.

The past couple of seasons have already shown what Matthews can do when it comes to leadership and his drive to win. A 69-goal season already shows Matthews’ drive, his adjustment in 2022-23 to incorporate greater defensive and physical competencies into his game to give the Leafs their best chance at winning, and there has never been any sign of complacency or acceptance of playing at the level he’s at. He can take over games and win them single-handedly, but his play has also clearly inspired his teammates, so he doesn’t need to do that (too often.)

Matthews has shown with his votes of confidence for Pontus Holmberg’s vision and with Bobby McMann’s newfound offence that he is a team guy and knows what his teammates need to hear. He’s shown a connection to everyone in the locker room, but at the same time he’s also had no problem in addressing Mitch Marner’s pity party moment in the playoffs either and can kick asses and hold people accountable as needed. As Brad Treliving put it, leadership doesn’t need to come in the form of a big locker room speech, it is a collection of moments throughout the year.

Auston also represents the change that many want to see in the way the captaincy has been handled. John Tavares has been a quieter voice publicly and has strived to be a calming presence when speaking publicly about the team. He’s very clearly had an open door to new Leafs and has led by example, but Auston will be different and in many ways give the public what it wants, a captain who will publicly call a spade a spade. Matthews will be the quote the Leafs’ media seeks and brings a less cliched approach to his interactions.

The reality is that from the moment that Auston won the Hart, this was unquestionably Auston’s team, and this is a moment where it is being formalized. The pressure was always on Auston more than anyone else on the Leafs lineup and the captaincy isn’t going to add much to that. Maybe he’ll have a few more meetings with Craig Berube and Brad Treliving as a result, and maybe there is a bit more pressure to send a text message to teammates from time to time, but on the ice, the barriers don’t seem to be the same as they would be for John Tavares who is at a very different point in his career and his life.

The long term impact of the captaincy sitting with Auston Matthews is that this moves both parties closer to the reality of Auston spending his entire career in Toronto and from the perspective of fans and those outside of the locker room that is going to be the biggest impact of the organizational change today. Having Auston Matthews not only buy into the vision for the organization but potentially have a bigger part in shaping that vision should excite Leafs fans.