The torch is set to be passed in Toronto from John Tavares to Auston Matthews, as the Maple Leafs appear ready to name the superstar sniper their 26th captain in franchise history.

TSN’s Darren Dreger broke the news Monday afternoon, saying it’s “part of the evolution” of Matthews, and that Tavares has been “heavily involved in the process with GM Brad Treliving.” The Athletic’s Chris Johnston reported the conversations began after the team was eliminated in the first round of the playoffs by the Boston Bruins.

Matthews, 26, becomes one of the youngest captains in franchise history. Three other players — Hap Day, Syl Apps and Mats Sundin — first wore the ‘C’ at 26 years old, while Darryl Sittler, Wendel Clark and Dion Phaneuf each wore it at 25. The only younger captains were Reg Noble (24, 1920-21), John Ross Roach (24, 1924-25), Ted Kennedy (23, 1948-49) while the youngest was Rick Vaive (22, 1981-82).

It only felt like a matter of time before Matthews would don the captaincy for the Leafs. Drafted by the club first overall in 2016, he’s been one of the league’s best goal scorers since entering the league, racking up 368 goals and 649 points in 562 games. He’s scored 60 goals twice, including a career-high 69 last season, with the lowest goal total being the 34 goals he scored in 62 games in 2017-18.

In fact, there are only two players who have been as prolific as he. The only other players to play in as many games as Matthews and have a goals-per-game rate at or above his 0.65 were Mike Bossy (752 GP, .76 GPG) and Mario Lemieux (915 GP, .75 GPG).

Tavares joined the Leafs ahead of the 2018-19 season, and was named captain a year later ahead of the 2019-20 campaign. It ended a three-year gap where no player wore a ‘C.’

As highlighted by The Leafs Nation, Matthews had never publicly lobbied for the captaincy.

The Calgary Flames have re-signed a pair of depth players who made their NHL debuts last year, inking forward Adam Klapka and defenceman Yan Kuznetsov to identical one-year, $775,000 contracts.

The 6’8 Klapka appeared in six games, scoring a goal and adding 19 penalty minutes. Those came thanks to an April 16 game against the Canucks where he got a game misconduct and roughing penalty, as well as April 18 fight with the Sharks’ Givani Smith.

He appeared in 65 AHL games for their AHL affiliate Wranglers last year, scoring 21 goals and 46 points in 65 games, adding 90 penalty minutes and three fights.

Kuznetsov, 22, played in just one game for the Flames, notching no points, but in 63 for the Wranglers, where he scored five goals and 13 points.

Zach Laing is the Nation Network’s news director and senior columnist. He can be followed on Twitter at @zjlaing, or reached by email at zach@thenationnetwork.com.