Don Cherry Absolutely Buries the Leafs Over Auston Matthews' Captaincy Decision

This week, Don Cherry made his long-awaited podcast comeback, and sadly for the Toronto Maple Leafs, he had their team right in his sights.

Cherry, a longtime commentator and former NHL coach, expressed his displeasure with the Leafs' recent decision regarding the team's captaincy.

Cherry's top concern was the contentious Maple Leafs decision to remove John Tavares from his captaincy and replace him with their star forward, Auston Matthews. Infuriated, the vocal Cherry appeared to be highly critical of the decision, as though it were an assault on Tavares, a player who has been a key member of the team in recent years. Cherry, however, viewed the latter action as an assault on the organization's character rather than merely a personnel decision.

Cherry stated that he believed the Maple Leafs' head coach Craig Berube and general manager Brad Treliving were spearheading the change. He claimed that this change in captaincy was a part of the new GM-head coach team's plan to make Matthews the team's face. However, that didn't seem like a very good reason to him, and it might cause disarray among the ranks.

Cherry said the Maple Leafs would offer Tavares a new contract extension in an attempt to defuse the situation. By taking away his captaincy, this would make up for the perceived disrespect and possibly save what little relationship Tavares still has with the team. According to Cherry, such an offer would maintain harmony in the locker room.

Even though Don Cherry's thoughts are evident, the Leafs have managed to make a difficult situation as smooth as possible. As they say, Auston Matthews is now in control of the puck, and he and his team must step up to the challenge of wearing letters and meeting the high standards that have been placed on them.