Auston Matthews' criminal offense led him to not become Maple Leafs captain

Everything went wrong for Auston Matthews in 2019 just as he was about to be announced as team captain. Reports surfaced that he was involved in a major scandal back in his home city of Scottsdale, Arizona. The Maple Leafs weren't comfortable announcing his captaincy due to the fact it would have made for a bad PR move and the team also didn't know how everything would have turned out, so they ultimately chose to go with John Tavares instead.

Auston Matthews ended up being charged for disorderly conduct in Arizona. Things that normally fall under that category are reckless public behaviour, yelling profanities, public exposure, public intoxication and loitering. People usually refer to those things as disturbing the peace, which is what Matthews was involved in.

The charges against Auston Matthews were dropped and he had no further distractions and was able to continue his stellar performance for years to come with the Leafs. He's suited up in 562 NHL games for them, having scored 368 goals and 649 points. The Leafs are expected to announce Matthews as their next captain, and it's not going to shock anyone, especially that he came off an incredible 69 goals last season.

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