Fans share nothing but positive vibes as Maple Leafs shift captaincy from John Tavares to Auston Matthews in franchise-shaking move

The Toronto Maple Leafs have officially stripped the "C" from John Tavares and handed it to Auston Matthews.

The Leafs' franchise centre was unveiled as the team's 26th captain at a press conference on Wednesday morning. The 26-year-old superstar takes the reigns from Tavares, who became captain in 2019 after inking a seven-year contract the summer prior.

Matthews becomes Toronto's first-ever American captain and will be just the second non-Canadian to rock the "C" for the Maple Leafs. Swedish Hall of Famer Mats Sundin is the other.

The importance of the moment wasn't lost on the Arizona native, who was smiling ear-to-ear as he talked about how much the captaincy means to him.

"I got chills, honestly. I'm so honoured and humbled," Matthews said during Wednesday's presser. "Since being drafted here eight years ago, you realize how special it is to play for the city of Toronto, to wear the Maple Leaf on your chest every night.

"It just means the world."

It wasn't your typical captaincy change, either, as now-former captain Tavares was not only supportive of the move to hand the "C" to his star teammate, he was front and centre during Wednesday's press conference to help pass the torch himself.

"To have the support from Johnny [Tavares], my teammates, our staff, ownership, my family, it just means the world to me," Matthews added. "I look forward to continuing our journey to obviously get to the top of the mountain and win the Stanley Cup and bring it back to Toronto."

Tavares revealed he actually called Matthews himself to give him the news when the decision was made in late July.

"I just wanted to let him know what I thought about him and that I thought the time was now for him to take charge, and be the captain and be the leader of our club, and how ready he was for it," said Tavares.

"He's got my full support to continue what when I came here six years ago to do and wanting to bring the Stanley Cup back here to Toronto and finding a way to do that."

Tavares didn't just put his selflessness and leadership skills on display at Wednesday's press conference. His family was also there to support Toronto's new captain as Tavares' children — rocking Auston Matthews Jerseys — sat in the front row, something Leafs fans tuning in couldn't help but notice.

The support from his longtime teammate and friend has clearly meant a lot to Matthews, who praised Tavares during the press conference.

"After [Tavares] kind of let me know, I told him I was like shaking. I had chills," said Matthews.

"It's such a big honour just to represent the Maple Leafs and put on that jersey every night. To be the captain is truly special. For him to call me and kind of let me know that he wanted to pass on the captaincy to me was very emotional. I felt a lot of things, but it's truly an honour."

Maple Leafs general manager Brad Treliving also commended Toronto's ex-captain for his big-picture thinking and the grace and humility with which he handled the decision to hand the captaincy to Matthews.

"I can tell you right from the start, John was on board," Treliving said. "I can tell you he loves being the captain of the Toronto Maple Leafs, and John's a thinker and he was taking things in and we continued these conversations over a number of days of how we transition.

"John said to me, No. 1, he didn't come to Toronto to be the captain of the Maple Leafs; he came to win a Stanley Cup in his hometown. That goal is still what drives him today. He mentioned that he knew eventually that this day was going to come. I can't thank John enough for his leadership and character that he has. Those things don't stop today. We need it even more, and John will continue to provide those things."

Questions surrounding team chemistry and fractures in the dressing room always arise when a captaincy is stripped from a still-productive player and given to a teammate, but former NHLers including ex-Leaf Jay Rosehill believe stuff like that is never that big of a deal to the the players, and more of a media construct.

Following the press conference, Maple Leafs fans — and even the Blue Jays' official X account — took to social media to rejoice as the move was made official.

Some, of course, even decided to have some fun with Wednesday's news.

As much as fans and media relished in Wednesday's move, Matthews' new head coach, Craig Berube, chimed in and detailed why he thinks the No. 1 overall pick in 2016 will make a great captain for the Leafs, and why sometimes giving your most talented player the "C" is the right move for the franchise.

“Influence. Obviously, the great player that he is,” Berube said.

“It’s his work ethic off the ice, how he prepares, day in and day out. He’s an elite level in my opinion in that department. I’ve witnessed it first-hand. Constantly trying to work and get better. He’s a team-first guy, he’s the type of guy who will take care of his teammates like John Tavares did, and that’s what makes a good captain.”

Berube also said Matthews doesn’t need to change anything about his game — or personality — just because he's the captain now.

“Auston is going to learn on the way. He has learned a lot from John Tavares and other leaders in this organization that they’ve had. He just needs to be himself and go out and play the game at a high level like he does. Obviously, there are other things about being the captain that you have to take care of, but those are all things we’ve talked about," said Berube.

Matthews, entering the first season of a four-year, $53-million contract, said he hopes to remain with Toronto for the rest of his career.

"That's the goal, is to be a Leaf for life, to win here with my teammates, for the city, those are always things you keep in the back of your mind, but they are also things that are in the future as well," he said.

"I've loved every minute of being a Toronto Maple Leaf like I've said, it's such a tremendous honor. You kind of take it one day at a time, but I hope that's the case."

It's yet to be known what kind of long-lasting impact Matthews will have as the Leafs captain, but as far as on-the-ice production goes, few in the team's history have hit the level AM34 has during his NHL career.

Since Toronto selected him first overall in 2016, Matthews has scored at least 34 goals in each and every season and leads all NHL players with 368 goals since the 2016-17 season — 40 more than generational sniper Alex Ovechkin, who sits in second with 328. Matthews is also eighth overall in points since he entered the league with 649.

Toronto has made it to the postseason in all eight of Matthews' NHL seasons, advancing, however, to the second round just once over the span. Matthews has totalled 23 goals and 48 points in 55 career playoff games.

He is the fifth-youngest captain in the NHL behind Brady Tkachuk of the Ottawa Senators, Quinn Highes of the Vancouver Canucks, Nick Suzuki of the Montreal Canadiens and Nico Hischier of the New Jersey Devils, who are 25.