I ve been reading articles where matthews has been stating that he's ready but in my opinion he is a few years away from being the captain. 1st he hasn't been even trusted with an A yet. Though in smaller markets that may not be a big deal but if the leafs thought he was close to being ready he would have been named an assistant by the end of last year. 2nd the fact he has put his foot in his mouth a few times last year with responses to the media. Though again in a smaller markets they might not get any attention in leafland him making the wrong response will be played on repeat for days and dissected for days just to sell in the media. 3rd the extra responsibility that it comes with. There is a alot for things a leaf captain must do outside of leading the team that can be a big distraction. So though it's great he want more of a leadership role he needs more time and in my opinion the safe pick is Tavares. He's been a captain before and growing up in toronto he understands this market and the role he completely needs to do.

I think this captain "thing" is so overblown. It's a story in the media on a slow day, and social media talking point for no apparent reason.

The guys in the dressing room know who the leaders are. If the team (players) views him as a leader, than he should be. But only the guys inside the locker room know that. Whether he had an A on before shouldn't matter. Maybe it's Matthews, maybe it's Reilly or someone else.

The thing is once you give it to him you can't really take it from him and when you look at the history of the leafs name me a player this young with no experiece as a captain being named Captain of the leafs. Even wendel clark had to wait to be captain and had to prove that he was ready wearing an A on his chest.

The rumour going around is Tavares will be named Captain during training camp.

Tavares as captain spells the end for the Leafs. What kind of leader leaves his teammates? Matthews should be captain and will be.

But what if he's not ready? Like mentioned to someone hear even wendel clark one of the best captains the leafs have had in the past 30 years needed to wait til he was in the league about 6 years til he was thought to be ready.

Also, tavares was fed up with the ownership group and their lack of effort to build a great team around him. Thats not a slight on tavares. And he went to his childhood team. If patrick kane went to buffalo to finish his career in the city he grew up in would he be a traitor. My point is this was his childhood dream to oneday put on the blue and white and i get im a bit biased seeing im a leaf fan but if i had his talant and was a free agent and the leafs came calling as long as it's in the ballpark of my worth i would be there in a heart beat.

Yeah but that was 30 or whatever years ago. Where veterans ran the league and young players had to wait to be trusted. In 2018 its a little different. Matthews is a different player than Clark was on and off the ice. Things change over time, it's why Lou's old school management style grew old with the players very quick. Any former player will tell you how NHL players behave now is drastically different than their time. Even as little as 10 years ago. This is much less of a deal than you're making it out to be.

True but my point of this post is why take the risk he isn't 100% ready. Like i stated in the post everything he says and does will be dissected even more as captain from traveling home on the extended break to maybe not wording his comments properly. I just think either wait year or 2 more to see with matthews or if they want a captain now make the safe choice in tavares