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Leafs to announce captain

Imo, the best player, or even the 'franchise' player, isn't necessarily always the best choice for captain. The last 4 Stanley Cups this team won were not captained by the best player - that dynasty was captained by the best leader, one George Armstrong.

I think Leafs will go with the trend set by other teams and name Matthews as captain, and that may be best in the long run, but perhaps Reilly or Tavares would do better at this point than a 22 year old.

Accomplishments aside, just think, Matthews couldn't get a drink in most states for most of his career.
 
CarltonTheBear said:
It's Matthews' birthday today.... do the Leafs have a gift planned?

That would be cool, except I don't think he's playing in the exhibition game tonight.  Would be a shame to announce him captain and he's not even on the ice.
 
Let?s do a Vancouver* and give it to  Anderson



*Luongo ?captained? Vancouver, right?
 
Zee said:
CarltonTheBear said:
It's Matthews' birthday today.... do the Leafs have a gift planned?

That would be cool, except I don't think he's playing in the exhibition game tonight.  Would be a shame to announce him captain and he's not even on the ice.

I don't really expect the Leafs to make the announcement a big thing.
 
CarltonTheBear said:
Zee said:
CarltonTheBear said:
It's Matthews' birthday today.... do the Leafs have a gift planned?

That would be cool, except I don't think he's playing in the exhibition game tonight.  Would be a shame to announce him captain and he's not even on the ice.

I don't really expect the Leafs to make the announcement a big thing.

Or if they do it'll be via televised news conference. I don't think him skating tonight would matter.
 
herman said:
First home ice game he plays, as part of the announcement of the line up, yes?

See this seems like the low-key way to do it but it's exactly what I don't think they'll do. It'll make the captaincy announcement more important than the game. They'll have a boring press conference like Nik said or just tweet it out some morning from @LeafsPR.
 
CarltonTheBear said:
Zee said:
CarltonTheBear said:
It's Matthews' birthday today.... do the Leafs have a gift planned?

That would be cool, except I don't think he's playing in the exhibition game tonight.  Would be a shame to announce him captain and he's not even on the ice.

I don't really expect the Leafs to make the announcement a big thing.

I think they will.  We had a press conference when Phaneuf was named captain, now we haven't had one in a few years they'll do it big.
 
Zee said:
I think they will.  We had a press conference when Phaneuf was named captain, now we haven't had one in a few years they'll do it big.

Sorta just said this to herman but yeah to me having a press conference is the boring/not-a-big-thing way to announce it. What I don't think they'll do it have him wheeled onto the ice in a box on opening night and then jump out of it with the C all while a marching band comes out and fireworks go off... ok wait no they should actually do that.
 
CarltonTheBear said:
Zee said:
I think they will.  We had a press conference when Phaneuf was named captain, now we haven't had one in a few years they'll do it big.

Sorta just said this to herman but yeah to me having a press conference is the boring/not-a-big-thing way to announce it. What I don't think they'll do it have him wheeled onto the ice in a box on opening night and then jump out of it with the C all while a marching band comes out and fireworks go off... ok wait no they should actually do that.

They could go paper bag over the head like Ballard wanted to do when he was announcing Roger Nielson to remain as coach.
 
Peter D. said:
It will be Matthews, but my personal preference would still be Rielly.

Yep. I think Rielly is the right choice for a lot of reasons - both with respect to his apparent leadership qualities and in order to avoid any rift between the young forwards who seem to be sort of "competing" for the captaincy.
 
If guys are going to be upset that they didn't get named Captain, it's not going to make them feel better if it's Rielly instead of Matthews.

The Leafs won't make a big deal about it because it's not a big deal. If a guy has earned the team's approval by being a good leader on and off the ice then would we want his behaviour to change after getting the C? No. If there are good candidates for it who don't get it, would we want their behaviour to change because they didn't? No.

It's almost entirely meaningless symbolism at this point. If Matthews is respected by his teammates, it'll be fine if it's him.
 
Peter D. said:
It will be Matthews, but my personal preference would still be Rielly.

Same, though -- in a moment of weakness -- I did think for a time it might be Tavares. I'd say it's about 99% sure to be Matthews.
 
Bullfrog said:
I'd say it's about 99% sure to be Matthews.

If the choice is anyone but Matthews, the story will be "Why not Matthews?". If the choice is Matthews, no one will wonder why it wasn't Rielly.
 

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