Maple Leafs' Brendan Shanahan defends John Tavares' stance on captaincy

During an interview after the announcement of Auston Matthews captaincy, Leafs President Brendan Shanahan defended former captain John Tavares' stance on his captaincy and how the transition transpired.

Shortly after the announcement was made and the ceremony was concluded, many fans took to X and other social media sites giving their thoughts that Tavares was somehow forced out of this role and even a notion of being stripped of his captaincy was mentioned.

Shanahan came to his defense after his repeated explanation that he was fine with this change and that he felt it was time for this move to occur.

"I disagree, I think that John is a cerebral guy and John saw it and understood it as well as we did, that the time was right,» Shanahan said.

«I've known the Tavares family, his Uncle from our lacrosse days, and I know what they're made of. The kind of team players they are and they're always thinking about what's best for the team. So I wasn't surprised at all to see John embrace the idea and concept. And as he said, he has one goal here and anything that he thinks can help pull the team further along, he wants to do it. I think John is a unique individual and wanted to be a part of that. He'll certainly help Auston along the way as well.»

It seemed that the Maple Leafs were destined to do a major change to their Core 4 which many felt would be a big trade seing one of the members being removed to give the view that the team has altered its look. But with it coming down to contracts and the inability to move them without losing the trade, the Leafs changed their defense, goaltending and now their captaincy.

Only time will tell on how Tavares will handle this change in the long run and whether this move will give the Leafs the change that they are looking for.

Previously on MapleLeafsLatest

Philadelphia Flyers officially sign former Leafs goaltending prospect

Notorious banned NHLer Milan Lucic planning comeback

John Tavares' future plans already being discussed

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16 AOUT \| 62 ANSWERS Maple Leafs' Brendan Shanahan defends John Tavares' stance on captaincy Do you think John Tavares was forced out as captain of the Maple Leafs?
Yes	23	37.1 %
No	39	62.9 %
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