Agent didn’t do Matthews any favours

On the AM34 situation: I get how a 21-year-old could be drunk and stupid … I get how a dad could have a blind spot about his son’s behaviour … But how could a sports agent be so stupid as to not inform the team (about a charge of disorderly conduct in Arizona)? It beggars belief. Situations like this happen WAYYY more often than is reported, but any agent with an ounce of sense works with the team to resolve the situation well before it gets before the courts/press. Such resolutions are usually better for all parties involved. Auston Matthews and his family are relatively new to fame, and were apparently labouring under the delusion that this incident would end quietly if ignored. How did the professionals not know better? — Adam T. Matthews trusts the people who love him and pays lawyers and agents to advise him. They apparently all let him down. Guilt or innocence is not the issue here. The mere fact that this is before the courts — and he didn’t tell his employer until it was too late — is the issue. Captaincy should not be decided by who is the highest paid player or the best player on the team. It is to be decided by who is the leader of the team both on and off the ice, and the one that can be the liaison between the players and the coach. I am sure that between president Brendan Shanahan and coach Mike Babcock they have a pretty good idea who they want to give it to … GM Kyle Dubas should have nothing to do with this. His job is to look after the money. — Jean C., Winnipeg In my time in Toronto, the Leafs have done quite an amazing job of doing the wrong thing at the wrong time. Just think back to the rift between captain Darryl Sittler and GM Punch Imlach. Shanahan, Babcock and Dubas will decide the leader. They’ve waited, then they said they’d do it. Now we’ll see. You raised an interesting issue in your blog this week … that Dmytro Timashov would get special consideration for a roster spot because, among other factors, he can act as translator for Ilya Mikheyev (in the way Nikita Zaitsev did for Igor Ozhiganov last season). Is this true for Egor Korshkov (who looked great in the Sept. 23 game) as well? If the player has no or little English, and no one else on the team or in camp speaks his language, how do coaches communicate with him? Does the team hire a translator? — Al Manchee Timashov acted as Korshkov’s translator with the Marlies and so far in camp. They have largely been changing in the same room and in the same group. Mikheyev has been on his own with the main group since St. John’s. No Russian speakers to speak of, really. His centre, Alex Kerfoot, says Mikheyev understands enough hockey English to get by — a lot of coaching by Xs and Os on the whiteboard and in video. Pictures say 1,000 words in either language, right? Wondering what the time frames are for the return of Zach Hyman and Travis Dermott. I feel they are keys to any Leaf success. — Bill on Balsam Neither are practising . Word is 12 to 14 games, so you’re looking at a November return. Time enough for Dmytro Timashov and Rasmus Sandin to show us what they’ve got.