Prior to Wednesday’s puck drop at the Leafs’ season opener, John Tavares was introduced as the 25th captain in Toronto franchise history, to the adulation of the sellout crowd of 19,612 fans at Scotiabank Arena.
The reveal of the “C” on Tavares’s sweater ended months of speculation as to who would become the first Leaf to don the letter since Dion Phaneuf was traded out of town over two-and-a-half years ago.
As recently as training camp, Tavares along with Morgan Rielly and Auston Matthews led the water cooler talk as the clear front-runners for the job.
“One of the major benefits that we have is that had a number of candidates for the position,” Leafs general manager Kyle Dubas said.