Important Maple Leafs player missing at press conference is a bad sign

Despite the fact that many notable former Leafs players were in attendance at Auston Matthews' captaincy ceremony, such as John Tavares, Wendel Clark, Doug Gilmour, Mitch Marner and Morgan Rielly, one key player was missing, and that was William Nylander.

William Nylander has signed an eight-year contract with the team and is the longest locked up player along with Morgan Reilly, so many experts will be shocked if he doesn't receive an "A" as an alternate captain, but judging by his missing presence at this ceremony, it has many to believe the plans are not to give him that jersey letter.

Morgan Reilly will likely remain as one of the alternate captains next season along with John Tavares. Many are wondering whether Mitch Marner will receive an "A", as his contract is expiring after next season and he doesn't produce in the playoffs when the games matter most, so he could be lacking leadership qualities. The Leafs may not want to give Marner the "A" if they know they won't have the money to re-sign him either.

With a month to go until the start of NHL training camps, we will likely get clarity shortly on who exactly will be in all of the on-ice leadership roles for next season. It is really concerning to fans that William Nylander wasn't in attendance, so people are speculating that he may possibly already know he won't be an assistant captain next season so felt no need to be at the conference yesterday.

There are others who also want to give William Nylander the benefit of the doubt in case he possibly had personal matters to attend to, or couldn't catch a flight in time. Either way, it will be an intriguing end to the summer.

Source: Maple Leafs Daily
Major absence at Auston Matthews' captaincy presentation tells concerning story