Ryan Reaves comments on the Maple Leafs captain change

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Tom Banks
October 8, 2024 (6:04 PM)

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The Toronto Maple Leafs made the shock move to name Auston Matthews their new captain this summer, and now Ryan Reaves has a positive update on the situation.

This off-season, the Toronto Maple Leafs made several changes, starting with a new Head Coach in Craig Berube, who brings Stanley Cup winning experience to a team that desperately needed it. Then came the truly shocking moment, as the team asked John Tavares to step aside as they would name Auston Matthews the latest captain in the history of one of the NHL's most storied franchises.

From the outside, not much has seemingly changed since the move given that no regular season games have been played, but now veteran enforcer Ryan Reaves has opened up on what the locker room has been like since the shocking move on the latest episode of the Spittin' Chiclets podcast.

«Obviously that's a hard situation. You have a guy in Johnny who is a great leader, who's done nothing but great things for the city and the organization. And then you have Tone, who has shown that he can lead on and off the ice. Johnny has handled it very graciously, much better than I think a lot of people would have handled it. He's been around the room, he hasn't changed a bit-he's joking around, he's been loose. Sometimes these things happen, sometimes you just gotta pass the torch to the younger guy. They seem fine, and Johnny's been great, so.

He's been classy about the whole thing.»

According to Reaves, John Tavares has still been a fantastic leader since the move and has handled it perfectly, and given his presence around the team, it appears not much has changed. That may be different once regular season games begin and the pressure heats up on one of the most scrutinized teams in sports, but for now, it appears things are going well behind the scenes in Toronto as they look to break a 57 year Stanley Cup drought.