There’s a lot to like about Tavares being Leafs captain

There is a lot of Mats Sundin in John Tavares.

And that is a giant compliment.

Tavares is quiet and thoughtful, professional and prepared, the way Sundin was quiet and thoughtful, professional and prepared. They may play and have played completely different games as centres — Sundin was huge and powerful with a giant shot and was more about creating offence for himself with his immense skills; Tavares is far more subtle as a player, not a giant of a man, but he can score and create and stickhandle in a telephone booth. He understands offence. Like Sundin, his production has been almost a career straight line.

Sundin was captain for a rather remarkable 10 years, longer than any captain in Leafs history except for George Armstrong, who lasted 12, grabbing four Stanley Cups in a six-team NHL. The 10 seasons by the numbers say so much about Sundin, the player: He recorded 72 points, 73, 74 twice, 75, 76, 78 twice, 80 and 83. Imagine what those numbers would have been like if he had Mitch Marner on his line.

Tavares has been a captain before, five years with rather awful New York Islanders teams. Know what kind of man Tavares is? It almost broke his heart to leave Long Island, where they didn’t have a building, had a joke of a managerial staff for most of his time there, and he thought long and hard about not leaving. Partly because John Tavares is a hockey player and that’s the way hockey players often think. And partly because every year, no matter how dismal the team was, no matter how clueless the general manager was, no matter what the building he played in looked like, it was his team and he believed in them.

What made him so special in that time, what made him so necessary for the Maple Leafs to sign as a free agent, is that he made his teammates better every single season. Some guys who weren’t much before they played with Tavares weren’t much after they stopped playing with him.

Tavares came to Toronto by choice and becoming captain of the Maple Leafs wasn’t part of the sell. He was sold on playing with Marner. He was sold on the role Mike Babcock outlined for him. This was the childhood dream come true and finally expressed as an adult. Who gets to go home and get rich and gets to excel and get married and have a new baby son and his family around. This is a less a movie of the week than a Hallmark sporting classic.

Tavares didn’t need the ‘C’ to make him lead in any way. He led before he got the ‘C.’ He won’t change in any way as he takes on a position that is pawrtially symbolic, partially necessary. Had the captaincy gone to Auston Matthews, as it might have two weeks ago, in spite of what general manager Kyle Dubas contends, Tavares would have had an ‘A’ as in alternate on his jersey. And if they didn’t have a letter of any kind for him, his days would continue to be the same. He still would be the first to show up in the afternoon, the first to stretch, the first be seated at his stall and ready to play. A whole lot of firsts. Being Tavares. Now being captain of the Leafs.

It is different playing hockey in Toronto and really in any Canadian market. The expectations are higher. The attention is greater. The pressure, especially for those who can’t handle it, can be intense. If Sundin was emotional, he rarely if ever showed it. He certainly didn’t show it to the public. He could specialize in being boring — partly because he didn’t have an anecdotal way of looking at the world — because boring was safe and smart in Toronto. Even when everybody was against him — and he wasn’t always beloved — which was part of his time as Leafs captain.

Tavares isn’t completely boring when being interviewed, but he has a personal dull-metre that operates well for him. He may expand more than Sundin expanded, especially when he’s not the topic of the interview. He has thoughts and opinions he doesn’t care to share much publicly, but there isn’t a man in the Leafs dressing room that doesn’t look at him as a figure of significance — which was the lens Sundin was viewed through his 10 years wearing the ‘C’.

As great as Wendel Clark and Doug Gilmour were as Leafs, they only spent three years each as team captain. Dave Keon was captain for six seasons. Rick Vaive for five. And somehow Dion Phaneuf was captain for six seasons, which partially explains why Brian Burke now makes his living on television.

This is the beginning for Tavares as Leafs captain. He will be a long-term captain. He will, as Sundin always was, be available when it matters. When there’s something to say, he’ll say it. It’s easier than ever to hide in today’s NHL: Tavares isn’t built that way.