For three seasons, one of the biggest news stories of the off-season was: “Who’s Going to Be the Next Captain of the Toronto Maple Leafs?
With a crop of young talent, there were plenty of people in the Leafs’ dressing room that seemed qualified for the Leafs captaincy.
Whether it was Mitch Marner, Auston Matthews or Morgan Rielly; you can make a case for either one of them to be the next leader.
But then, John Tavares showed up.
The hometown kid actually came home.
In one of the biggest free agent signings in NHL history, Tavares left New York and decided to play for his favorite team growing up.