25 Years Before the Leafs Repo...

According to a report by TSN's Darren Dreger, the Toronto Maple Leafs – the Ottawa Senators' biggest rivals – are expected to name Auston Matthews as their new team captain on Wednesday. That means John Tavares will be stripped of the "C" after wearing it for the past five seasons.

Tavares has been roughly a point-per-game scorer throughout his career, but his offence dipped a little last year to 65 points in 80 games. Even more troublesome was his playoff performance, scoring just two points in a seven-game loss to the Boston Bruins. That's not exactly what you hope for from an $11 million-a-year player.

Matthews can score, but can he lead? Is he capable of doing something in that department that Tavares was not? Time will tell. But it's a rough way to treat a player like Tavares as he enters the final year of his contract.

25 years ago, the Ottawa Senators also stripped the "C" from their captain, but for very different reasons.

That player was Alexei Yashin, who had just completed his first season as captain of the Senators. Leadership seemed to agree with Yashin, who posted 44 goals and 94 points and became the only Senator in history to earn a Hart Trophy nomination.

The Russian star was no stranger to contract squabbles with the Senators, but after a season like that, that's when he and his agent, Mark Gandler, really dug their heels in. Yashin refused to play for the Senators unless the team renegotiated his contract, which had one year remaining at $3.6 million. The Sens refused to tear up the deal and refused to trade him, and Yashin's holdout lasted for the entire 1999-00 season.

Before that season, they stripped Yashin of his captaincy and handed the "C" to Daniel Alfredsson, who had been with the club the previous four seasons. Alfredsson's time in Ottawa famously ended with its own contractual difficulties, but he went on to become the most popular player in Senators' history and a Hall of Famer.

Yashin, on the other hand? Not so much.

But after his holdout, he thought he had it made. A year had passed, his contract had ended, and he was now free to sign elsewhere. Or so he thought. The Senators went to arbitration to challenge Yashin's free agency and won. So he still owed them a year of service.

Yashin was forced to return for 2000-2001, and with a blank space now on the left shoulder of his jersey, he showcased himself to the league, scoring 40 goals and posting 88 points to lead the Sens in both categories.

That summer, the Senators then pulled off one of the greatest trades in franchise history. They dealt Yashin to the Islanders for Bill Muckalt, Zdeno Chara, and the second overall pick, which they used to select Jason Spezza.

Yashin would become captain of the New York Islanders for his final two NHL seasons. His stats were still pretty solid, but the Isles went a step beyond stripping him of the captaincy. They bought him out.

Gandler later had the nerve to call Ottawa to see if his client might be able to return to where it all started. The Sens politely declined and Yashin eventually spent the rest of his career in the KHL.

Yashin's removal from the captaincy in Ottawa was a far different story than the one reportedly playing out this week in Toronto. Yashin held out and eventually didn't want to be here anymore.

But for Tavares, who wore the Leaf pyjamas as a kid, this has been his dream. So removing the "C" in his case, if it happens, probably won't be as universally supported as it was in Ottawa 25 years ago.