King Clancy nominee Tavares of Maple Leafs empowers youth to reach potential

Editor’s Note: The King Clancy Memorial Trophy is presented annually to the NHL player who best exemplifies leadership qualities on and off the ice and has made a noteworthy humanitarian contribution in his community. Each NHL Club nominates a player to be considered for this recognition, and each nominee has a unique and powerful connection to his community efforts. Today, the Toronto Maple Leafs nominee for the 2025-26 season -- John Tavares -- shares his story.

Hockey has given me many opportunities to make an impact.

A lot of those opportunities have been outside of NHL arenas, and some of them have been in settings that you might not expect.

Like a high school cafeteria.

When I played junior hockey for the Oshawa Generals of the Ontario Hockey League, I was attending high school nearby in a great hockey town. Part of my school day was set aside to work with kids who had special needs, and I was fortunate to spend lunchtime with them on a regular basis. They had so much excitement for the Generals and everyone connected to the team.

I enjoyed being their friend and having the chance to make them smile, whether we were sharing a meal or playing ball hockey together.

I think about those kids often. Every interaction was a reminder of the impact that hockey enables us to have on people’s lives. Coincidentally, the lunches were also the reason I met my wife, Aryne, who was a lunchroom supervisor and who felt the same way about giving the kids a positive experience.

If we fast forward about 15 years, Aryne and I were hoping to grow our impact when we launched the John Tavares Foundation in 2020.

The John Tavares Foundation is dedicated to ensuring that children across Canada have the support and opportunities to participate in their communities and explore their passions. Our work is organized into four pillars. The first is food, to provide kids with access to proper nutrition. The second is resources, to empower them with tools to advocate for change. The third is activity, to offer fun ways to be physically active. And the fourth is connection, which focuses on strengthening communities and expanding opportunity.

Arriving at these pillars took a little bit of time and a lot of reflection on the support I had throughout my upbringing. I can look back and see how much I benefitted from a stable and loving family, caring teachers, genuine friendships, and consistent access to sports. But I know there are many families who encounter challenges that can lead to different outcomes, and I think every kid should be able to fulfill their potential without worrying about the essentials of overall well-being.

So, when we choose our Foundation partners -- organizations like the Ballantyne Project to uplift Indigenous youth, or the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health to respond to individuals in crisis, or Emily’s House to serve children in hospice care -- our ultimate goal is to address the hardships that families face.

At a broader level, playing in the National Hockey League has made it possible to think about impact on a bigger scale. I’m extremely grateful to be in a position to invite fans to join me in community initiatives.

But in a very real way, my hockey career is just a backdrop for building connections on a human level. My relationship with this work is no different than how anybody else might relate. We all know what it’s like to navigate peaks and valleys, and everybody can recognize the emotions involved in a challenging situation. We may not always fully understand another person’s experience, but we can always meet them with compassion, increase our awareness, and respond by turning awareness into action.

Aryne and I did not know exactly which projects we’d get involved in when we established the Foundation. We just wanted to get out there. The past six years have really inspired us to keep doing more.

Through it all, we’ve been introduced to remarkable people who are changing things for the better. They represent the kind of traits that we aim to share with our three children -- Jace, Axton, and Raelynn -- so they grow up with an appreciation for helping others.

They’re young right now, but being able to include them and do this work as a family will be special for all of us.

Here’s one part of community work that I hope, one day, they can appreciate as much as I do -- hearing directly from kids about the passions and dreams that shape their lives. Their stories are constantly full of courage and determination, and their futures are still being formed. I believe there should be no limits on what they can pursue. And I want to continue using the platform hockey has given me to help them reach their full potential.