Bruins' Rival Toronto Maple Leafs Strip John Tavares of Captaincy

Over the last couple of seasons, the Boston Bruins and Toronto Maple Leafs have had their share of battles, including this past spring in the first-round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs where the Black and Gold jumped out to a 3-1 series lead before Toronto battled back to even the series to force a Game 7. In true Bruins/Maple Leafs rivalry, it went to overtime where David Pastrnak ended the series for the Bruins in overtime.

Not just last spring, but over the years, the Maple Leafs have had their share of playoff struggles or failures, whichever way you want to go, and it can be traced to a lot of different things. The roster has changed, the front office personnel has changed and even the coaches have changed. Now it appears that are making a change in the locker room.

Toronto Maple Leafs to name Auston Matthews new captain

According to Darren Dreger of TSN, the Maple Leafs are expected on Wednesday to name Auston Matthews their new captain and strip current captain John Tavares of the C. In an even stranger twist, Tavares fully supports the decision with GM Brad Treliving also heavily involved in the decision.

Matthews is a prolific goal-scorer and one of the top players in the NHL and is coming off a season where he scored 69 goals and finished with 107 points. Toronto has failed to get by the second round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs in the Eastern Conference the last eight times they have been in the postseason. They are a franchise that is looking to take the next step and are trying everything they can to get over the hump.

Toronto is no shortage of talent on their roster and with new coach Craig Berube ready to lead them in his first season behind the bench, they are hoping that Matthews' can lead them to where they are looking to go.