John Tavares' family makes heartfelt gesture to support Auston Matthews

After five years of wearing the C on his jersey, John Tavares finally passed the torch to Matthews , who became the 26th captain in Toronto Maple Leafs history.

Many special people were in attendance, such as his teammates Morgan Rielly and Mitch Marner, as well as alumni members Doug Gilmour and Wendel Clark.

However, the spotlight was stolen by Tavares' family.

His three children showed up at the press conference wearing Auston Matthews jerseys.

This came from NHL.com reporter Dave McCarthy, who shared the following post on X:

City News reporter Lindsay Dunn also made a post about Tavares' kids and posted the following picture:

This might be a small gesture, but for Matthews, it can mean much more. Getting support from people close to you is important, and Tavares, who's been Matthews' teammate for six seasons, gave his full support to pass on the C.

With a new era beginning in Toronto, things have to start on the right foot, and it looks like John Tavares is making sure that it goes smoothly.

We can't wait to see him on the ice for the home opener on October 12th against the Pittsburgh Penguins. Even if he tallied an impressive total of 107 points last season, the captaincy could push him to new heights, which could propel him to finally surpass the 70-goal mark.

Source: Dave McCarthy on X
Big show of unity as Leafs pass captaincy from John Tavares to Auston Matthews.

Source for Auston Matthews' statistics: NHL.com
Auston Matthews