TORONTO -- John Tavares will help take pressure off Auston Matthews as much off the ice as on with the Toronto Maple Leafs, Hockey Hall of Fame center Doug Gilmour said Wednesday.

"One hundred percent it will," Gilmour said of Tavares. "He's old enough (27). He's smart enough. He's good enough. He was the captain of the New York Islanders. He's a leader and can help shield some of the [attention] from Auston, who's still only just 20."

Gilmour pointed to the scrum of 30 reporters who had just finished interviewing a handful of NHL players participating in the seventh annual Smashfest, the charity pingpong challenge hosted by free agent Maple Leafs forward Dominic Moore and the NHL Players' Association. The event, held at Steam Whistle Brewery in Toronto, has raised more than $650,000 for concussion and rare cancer research prior to this year.

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"Look how many media are here just to cover a pingpong tourney in the offseason," Gilmour said. "That's hockey life in Toronto. But John can handle it. He can absorb a lot of the pre- and postgame demands and let a lot of the younger guys do their thing.

"He's been in this fishbowl before. He knows. He came here for a reason. He's going to accept this pressure like we all did, and he's not going to shy away from it."

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Gilmour understands how fixed the cumulative public eye is on the Maple Leafs. Still one of the most popular Maple Leafs of all time, the 55-year-old holds Toronto's single-season record for points with 127 (32 goals, 95 assists) in 1992-93.

"People in Toronto are crazy about hockey," said Gilmour, who played for the Maple Leafs from 1992-97. "I remember one time, in order not to get mobbed while going to a game at Maple Leaf Gardens when I was a Leaf, I dressed up like myself. I put on a Doug Gilmour No. 93 Leafs jersey, a Leafs ball cap, sunglasses, and walked into the rink like just another fan. No one thought it was actually me.

"That's the fanfare, the scrutiny that there is for a Leaf in Toronto. There's something about them on TV pretty much every day. And that can be tough on young players. But there is no better place to play. They'll learn that. And John can help them with that.

"John is from the Toronto area and was in the spotlight at a young age dating back to junior. He knows what he's getting into. He came here for a reason."

Gilmour recalled how Tavares petitioned to gain eligibility to play major junior in the Ontario Hockey League in the spring of 2005. OHL rules did not allow players under the age of 15 to be drafted, so the league introduced an exceptional player clause, allowing the 14-year-old Tavares to be drafted one year sooner than he would otherwise have been eligible.

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"I was on the Board of the OHL when he applied to play underage," Gilmour said. "I looked at the kid and said, 'He's pretty small.' Then I remembered I was 130 pounds when I came in, so he was actually pretty big.

"He handled that without flinching. And he'll handle this too. He's a first-class player."

From the moment Tavares signed a seven-year, $77 million contract July 1, Gilmour said he hasn't seen this much buzz about the Maple Leafs since Pat Quinn's teams of 1999-2004.

"I'm happy for the city, the organization and the fans," Gilmour said. "It's going to be fun."