For the first time since February 9th, 2016, the Toronto Maple Leafs will be skating on the ice with a captain to lead them. When Dion Phaneuf was traded to the Ottawa Senators, they didn’t replace him for the rest of that season. Or the one after that. Or the one after that. Or th- you get it.
Tonight however, they have a captain. A captain who grew up sleeping under Toronto Maple Leafs bed sheets. A captain that the Leafs tried to sign to an AHL contract before he was even drafted, a captain who suffered for years, missing the playoffs, playing for a team with no direction, wasting the prime years of a superstar, and then leaving that team to sign with the Maple Leafs.