Sep 6, 2018
Leafs say captaincy question was no concern
Toronto will enter the season without naming a captain, but the players say they’re comfortable continuing the team’s leadership-by-committee approach.
TORONTO – This past summer brought great change to the Maple Leafs’ front office and roster. With one week to go until training camp opens, there could be more changes ahead – but at least one thing will remain the same.
General manager Kyle Dubas told TSN Hockey Insider Bob McKenzie in an interview Wednesday that after two years without a captain, the Leafs will start the coming season without one as well.
Dubas said the Leafs’ management and coaches are pleased with the leadership group in place, but also didn't rule out a potential captaincy designation at some point this year.
“It's a very important honour to be a captain of the Toronto Maple Leafs,” Dubas told McKenzie. “Even though I've been in the organization [for four years], the way that I look at it is, I want to get into it day to day with these people and see who's best suited to handle that if we do determine that we need somebody to handle that. If we feel we have a void in leadership because we don't have a formal captain, then it's something that I think we can address.”
Not only do Dubas’ players agree with his sentiments, they say the topic of who should be the Leafs' captain never comes up at all.
“I don’t think we’ve ever had a conversation among ourselves about it,” said Zach Hyman after a summer skate on Thursday at MasterCard Centre. “It’s all the buzz outside about, ‘Who’s going to be captain?’ But in the room who’s the captain or who is alternate captain [doesn’t matter]. It works well for us even though there’s a big buzz around the media.”
That leadership-by-committee approach was born out of necessity in Toronto, but by all accounts has been a successful model in the dressing room. It began in the months after Toronto’s last captain, Dion Phaneuf, was traded to the Ottawa Senators on Feb. 9, 2016, and the team was practically dismantled and re-built the following seasons with a mix of young talent and well-travelled veterans.
Rather than one individual shouldering the pressure of the captaincy, players say the team embraced a more collaborative method of leading, where everyone is encouraged to take part however they’re comfortable.
“We have older guys who lead the way and then our younger guys are growing up and starting to become more mature and taking on a leadership role also,” said Hyman. “We have a good group of guys. You don’t need a captain to start off the year; we just go with how things have been going and everyone doing their thing. It’s been good.”
With the 2018-19 regular season a month away, only Morgan Rielly remains from the crop of three alternate captains Toronto carried last season (down from four alternates, the NHL’s maximum allowed, in 2016-17). Seasoned skaters Ron Hainsey and Patrick Marleau are prime candidates to wear the letters vacated by Tyler Bozak and Leo Komarov in their free agency departures, while star centre Auston Matthews and John Tavares (a former captain of the New York Islanders) will also be in the mix.
It was Matthews who said last September, after serving as an alternate in a preseason game, that the designation is “just another stitch on your jersey, I guess,” underscoring the Leafs’ unbothered mentality about the whole structure.
“It’s a group effort to make up a leadership core and we’re lucky in this room we have a lot of guys willing to take on that responsibility and are more than capable of handling it,” said Rielly. “It’s a cool feeling [to wear a letter], but really doesn’t change anything about the person who has it.”
With one issue squared away for the time being, a more pressing concern continues to intensify. When the Leafs report for training camp medicals on Sept. 13, it’s unclear if restricted free agent William Nylander will be present.
The 22-year-old has posted 135 points (48 goals, 87 assists) in 185 games with Toronto, but so far the Leafs have failed to agree with Nylander on a contract extension. While Dubas told McKenzie he’s confident a deal will get done, TSN Hockey Insider Darren Dreger said on Thursday he doesn't think Nylander will be signed by the time training camp begins.
Hyman went through his own contract negotiations on a four-year, $9-million extension with the Leafs last summer, but has steered clear of advising Nylander on this current predicament.
“Willy is a good friend of mine so I talk to him a little bit, [but] my situation was different than his situation,” Hyman said. “I try not to talk to him about the contract stuff; you don’t want to be involved in that. That stuff will get resolved, it always does get resolved. He’s an important part of our team. It will get resolved when it does.”
Until then, the Leafs will keep forging ahead. In the last week, more regulars have trickled into the team’s summer workouts, and scrimmages now draw an audience that includes head coach Mike Babcock, Dubas and Leafs’ president Brendan Shanahan. The usual fresh-start feeling September brings is palpable.
“I think we have a good environment going right now,” said Rielly. “We’re going to prepare [for camp] with the group we have. We feel confident, we feel good about our team. We’re pumped; we’re ready to get playing for real.”