Auston Matthews 'got chills' when John Tavares told him he was next Maple Leafs captain

When Auston Matthews’ phone buzzed sometime near the end of July and he saw it was John Tavares calling, he didn’t hesitate to pick up.

What Tavares had to say, though, threw Matthews for a loop.

Tavares, the Maple Leafs captain, wasn’t calling just to check in on his ultra-talented teammate.

After weeks of discussion with Leafs general manager Brad Treliving, Tavares rang Matthews to tell him that he was handing off the captaincy to Matthews.

“After he let me know, I told him I was shaking, I got chills,” Matthews said on Wednesday at the Real Sports bar after Treliving introduced him as the 26th captain in Leafs franchise history.

“It’s such a great honour to represent the Maple Leafs and put on that jersey every night, and to be the captain is truly special. For him to call me and let me know that he wanted to pass on the captaincy to me, it was very emotional. It was a lot of things. It’s truly an honour.”

With Tavares to his right and Treliving to his left, Matthews brought laughter from a crowd of MLSE employees, media and family members when he said that, no, he did not think of turning down the opportunity to wear the C on the front of his Leafs sweater.

“There are a lot of different responsibilities that come with it,” Matthews said. “I don’t think I need to change who I am or my process or the way I approach the game. It’s (continuing) to learn and grow as a teammate and a leader and as a person and make steps forward and try to be the best version of the person I can be for this team.”

Treliving stressed that Tavares wasn’t taken aback when he initially told him that he wanted to make a change in the captaincy. And though Treliving could have waited another year until Tavares’ contract expired, that apparently didn’t enter into his thought process.

“You act when you think the time is right,” Treliving said. “That didn’t play a role in it.

“It’s not that I thought there was something wrong (with Tavares as captain). I watched Auston all these years (first from afar in Calgary and then last season, his first as Leafs GM) and seeing steps he has taken on the ice when you get the chance to be around him every day … from a manager’s perspective, you are always trying to push your team. We’re trying to keep knocking on the door and pushing through it. I felt this was another step. It was a way to take a step forward and Auston lead that group.”

From the front row, Matthews’ parents, Brian and Ema, looked on. To their left sat Tavares’ wife Aryne and their three children, along with Tavares’ parents John and Barbara. Across the aisle sat MLSE chairman Larry Tanenbaum, MLSE president and CEO Keith Pelley, Leafs president Brendan Shanahan, new coach Craig Berube, teammates Mitch Marner and Morgan Rielly and former Leafs captains Doug Gilmour and Wendel Clark.

Matthews has spent the past eight seasons establishing himself as one of the top centres in the National Hockey League after the Leafs drafted him first overall in 2016.

The 2024-25 season will be the first of Matthews’ four-year extension, one that carries an average annual value of $13.25 million U.S.. He’s a month shy of his 27th birthday, and though he has been piling up accolades since his four-goal NHL debut, we probably haven’t seen the most of what he can be on the ice.

Winning a Stanley Cup remains the primary aim. There’s another one that Matthews touched on.

“That’s the goal, is to be a Leaf for life, to win here with my teammates for this city,” Matthews said. “Those are always things you keep in the back of your mind, but they’re also things that are in the future as well. I have loved every minute about being a Toronto Maple Leaf, it’s such a tremendous honour. You take it one day at time, but I hope that’s the case.”

Rielly, whose voice in the dressing room will continue to be a critical leadership piece, lauded both Tavares and Matthews.

“He is that guy. You look at the best players in the world, he is right there. He treats everybody with respect, and I think that is a contagious part about his personality.”