MLHS’ Anthony Petrielli joined Sportsnet Today to discuss the timing of the Auston Matthews captaincy announcement, the team’s assistant captaincies, and John Tavares’ situation entering a contract season.
On whether there is anything to make of the timing of the captaincy switch in the middle of August:
The only thing I would potentially make out of it is that I am sure they wanted to target a time when news is slower, get it out of the system, and arrive at camp when it’s… I wouldn’t say it’s ever a non-story in Toronto, but I am sure that they hope it kind of fades into the background, and you are off to bigger and better things.
That lines up with the general premise of what they’re trying to make happen. They have a brand new coaching staff. That brand new coaching staff is anointing a new leadership group, which is what they should be doing.
On whether the decision is more about anointing Matthews as the face of the franchise than it is an indictment of John Tavares:
The buck stops with Matthews on the ice. No one would argue that for years on end at this point. He is one of the best players in the league. He is obviously the best player on the Leafs.
I know that doesn’t always make him the best leader. It doesn’t make him the best captain. Those things could or could not be true in this scenario. I am not going to dissect that. I do know that for the Maple Leafs captain specifically, you have to be a lot more available to the media. You have to answer the bell more when things go right and when things go wrong.
The Leafs have a rotation in terms of who they allow access to media-wise and who answers questions when. Tavares was a little more forward as the captain, but there are tons of games where I would go back last year and say, “Auston Matthews didn’t speak, and this was kind of a big or frustrating or unacceptable loss.”
As the captain, you go out and answer why they keep losing to the Columbus Blue Jackets multiple times a year. Why are we losing the season series to Ottawa, who is ripping big slapshots into our empty net? Why are we continuously losing to the Detroit Red Wings? Why is Boston throwing a celebration for their 2011 Cup victory and then beating us 4-1?
Matthews can explain why this is happening — not John Tavares, who, at this point in his career, is not impacting games as significantly.
On the importance of a “vocal” leader and whether it’s more about the leadership group than any one player:
You do need a leadership group, especially in Toronto. That is the reality of the market. There is a lot of pressure. There is a lot of tension.
I saw some ex-players who didn’t play for the Leafs take to Twitter last night and talk about captaincies when they were in the league, but you can’t really compare a mid-market American city with one or two reporters covering the team full-time to Toronto. This captaincy news is the next morning 9 a.m. news in the middle of August when other sports are happening.
The attention is a little bit different, and you do need a committee. The only time they have remotely had success this millennium was during the Pat Quinn era; Quinn was collecting captains at one point. Look at those teams, how many ex-captains were on it, and how many guys had won Cups.
To the Leafs‘ credit, you hear about Chris Tanev across the league as a well-respected teammate and leader. He is going to come in and offer something. Oliver Ekman-Larsson was a captain in the NHL for a long time. He just came off of winning a Stanley Cup. You can see them trying to do some of those things in terms of who they are targeting. Those are also two players they would be very familiar with, given Brad Treliving had them on his teams in the past.
They are trying to have a bit more of that committee. At the same time, I don’t think Matthews needs to necessarily be vocal. It is important to be accountable when things happen. That is not to say he wasn’t previously or that it makes him magically more accountable, but it does weigh on you a little bit differently when the C is on your chest, and the buck ultimately stops with you as opposed to someone else in terms of dealing with it publicly. It would be naive to think that is an absolute meaningless nothing-burger of sorts for any player to have to handle.
On where the decision leaves John Tavares entering a contract season at age 34:
I don’t think it changes much for him other than all of the added pressure is off his shoulders. I do think the weight of the captaincy can be quite heavy here, in particular. It is a lot of extra attention and focus.
I think Matthews is at a point in his career where, ideally, he has that added pressure and responsibility. For Tavares, I think it is the exact opposite.
You will see people paint it as some sort of indictment of a negative view of him, but I think it’s the opposite for Tavares. The pressure is off. He is going into a contract year. Go out and play hockey. You were still good last year with 65 points and 29 goals. You had a career-low shooting percentage. Let’s see if that can be changed around. He had that massive nine-game goalless drought that clearly weighed on him.
His resume and pedigree speaks for itself across the league. I don’t think he needs to sell himself to earn a contract. I think Tavares can go out there and focus on playing hockey. He will still be a part of the leadership room, but it will be a little bit different now for him. Maybe some of the things he was criticized for in the past in terms of his interviews and the tone go away.
I think it is largely good for him. You have to go out of your way to see it as a bad thing for Tavares, honestly.
On the assistant captaincies and if Tavares will wear an A:
Teams generally can name three assistants to go along with their captain. It will be interesting to see the Leafs’ approach to handling it.
Logically, you would expect that Tavares still has a letter on his chest. I don’t think anyone is going to sit there and say Tavares did a bad job and this is why we are taking the C off his chest. It’s in the vein of, “He did a good job, but we are passing the torch to Matthews. It is his time and his team.”
Logically, Tavares would still have the A on his chest. I don’t think anyone would argue against Morgan Rielly as an assistant captain on the team. He is the longest-tenured Leaf. He is the most vocal of anybody. He has been the only player who has routinely stepped up in the playoffs — not this past spring, mind you, but over the course of his career, he has really been the main guy you could consistently point to.
If Tavares and Rielly are taking two spots, you have one spot left for Marner, going into a contract year, or William Nylander, who is about to make over $11 million a year. The money shouldn’t necessarily dictate the letter on the chest, but in this market, both players are homegrown, and both make a ton of money. Both are clearly in your top three. They are the other two and are clear core pieces.
It will be interesting to see how they handle it. They have alternated assistants, which, honestly, seems a little bit like elementary school. Regardless of what it is, I hope they make a decision. It’s the NHL. They shouldn’t be alternating assistant captains whether you are home or away.
On whether the move is an indication of a shifting culture on the team:
Craig Berube is really going to be the culture setter for the organization. I am not expecting Auston Matthews to become a transcendent culture-setter that he arguably hasn’t been since his career started. It really starts above him with Craig Berube, who is setting the tone and table of how he wants everything to be run.
That is the ultimate lens through which to look at it. A new coach is coming in and changing the leadership group. These guys haven’t won anything.
The easy thing would’ve been to wait for the Tavares contract to expire. This organization has been criticized a lot for doing the easy things over the years instead of the hard things. Berube is making a hard decision. In that sense, I commend what he is doing.
