John Tavares' newborn son, wife surprise him with Leafs captaincy news

Jace Tavares may only be a few weeks old, but that doesn’t mean that he’s too young to mess around with his old man.

Shortly after the Toronto Maple Leafs unveiled John Tavares as the 25th captain in team history on Wednesday night, the organization released a video on Twitter showing how the 29-year-old received the news.

To ensure it was a family affair, president Brendan Shanahan, general manager Kyle Dubas and head coach Mike Babcock had Tavares’s wife — Aryne — and Jace on hand to play a part in the touching moment.

After being summoned to Dubas’s office recently, Tavares walked in to see Jace wearing a tiny Maple Leafs jersey with a ‘C’ on the left-hand side. It left the former New York Islander captain grinning and grateful.

“That’s a hell of a surprise,” Tavares said after seeing his family and hearing Dubas make it official. “That’s really special. That’s amazing.”

If anyone understands the significance of being named the captain of the Maple Leafs, it’s Tavares. He grew up in the Greater Toronto Area and cheered for the team throughout his childhood. However, the organization doesn’t want him to change his approach after a debut season of 47 goals and 88 points.

“We don’t expect anything from you other than you just continue to be who you’ve been,” Dubas told him. “It’s been a lot of discussion and it’s because of who you are and how you do things every single day and yourself and Morgan (Rielly) and the rest of the group, in how you guys conduct yourselves day-in and day-out and it’s what we want as a representation of our team every single day in here and to the public...”

After letting the moment settle in, Tavares looked over to his wife and son. He then flashed yet another smile.

“And you were in on this, right?” he said to Aryne before the room erupted in laughter. “It must have been killing her inside.”

More NHL coverage on Yahoo Sports