Auston Matthews' controversial past delayed him being named Maple Leafs captain

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Daniel Lucente
August 13, 2024 (2:48 PM)

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Toronto Maple Leafs Auston Matthews was dealing with a criminal investigation in 2019 which was the reason the team decided to give the captaincy to John Tavares.

The Toronto Maple Leafs were just days away from announcing Auston Matthews as their team captain back in 2019 when everything suddenly went wrong.

Media reports all over North America began to report that Auston Matthews was involved in a possible lawsuit back in his home city of Scottsdale, Arizona. Due to that scandal, the Leafs organization decided they didn't want the bad press and ended up handing the captaincy to John Tavares in just his second year with the club.

Once the investigation by police was complete, Auston Matthews ended up being charged with disorderly conduct in the state of Arizona. Many refer to that type of charge as disturbing the peace. Other actions that could lead to someone being charged with that would be reckless public behaviour, yelling profanities, public intoxication, public exposure and loitering.

According to the police, Auston Matthews played a prank on a security officer:

Police say they investigated the incident that reportedly took place on May 26, 2019, when Matthews played a prank on a security officer at a condominium complex.

According to a department spokesperson, the female guard was sitting in a car around 2 a.m. completing paperwork. The guard told police she heard the sound like someone was trying to open one of the doors.

Auston Matthews ended up getting off easy as the charges were ultimately dropped and he went on to have many successful seasons with the Leafs afterwards. Auston Matthews to date has played in 562 NHL games, and they have all been with the Maple Leafs. In those games, he has been able to score 368 goals for a total of 649 points.

With numbers like those, it's no surprise the team wants him as their next captain , with an announcement expected very shortly.

Source:
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Source: HockeyDB
Auston Matthews Stats