If you ever find yourself as one of the stars of the Toronto Maple Leafs, you may endorse all sorts of products throughout your time with the team.

It's far from uncommon to see players and their brands attached to all sorts of products and services in the Greater Toronto Area: car dealerships, insurance companies, restaurants, you name it.

And while health and wellness products are another category that have long been endorsed by athletes, Leafs forward John Tavares raised more than a few eyebrows when one of his endorsements went viral this week.

It all started when Washington Post writer Will Sommer shared a video on X of Australian actor and comedian Russell Brand, who was spotted endorsing a "magical amulet" from Aires Tech. According to Brand, the amulet supposedly has the power to protect its wearers from "corruptible and corrupting" signals such as those emitted by phones and WiFi routers.

Russell Brand, remade as a right-wing Christian influencer, is now selling a "magical amulet" that protects you from WiFi signals and other "evil energies." Only $239.99 per amulet. pic.twitter.com/zcJg5tgOrV

— Will Sommer (@willsommer) October 15, 2024

Another user, with the handle of @BacklogReviewer, began a long secondary thread explaining what he'd learned about the amulet and its advertised properties. In one of the posts, he shared a testimonial about its alleged injury-healing powers, as endorsed by Tavares himself.

The amulet can also heal wounds, accordingly the captain of the toronto maple leafs pic.twitter.com/5qNdyTfUVz

— Evan (@BacklogReviewer) October 15, 2024

Hockey fans, as you'd expect, weren't exactly calm about the revelation. Here are some of the reactions:

"The amulet that makes you lose in the first round of the playoffs every year," wrote one user.

the problem with making these is you can put all the thought in the world into them but you just aren’t going to imagine “john tavares has a wound-healing magical amulet” https://t.co/DBBEXCpGDn

— katie (@itsmitchmarney) October 16, 2024

Another wrote, "if you told me that someone in the nhl has an anti-wifi amulet i would have expected it to be jakob chychrun. never would i have guessed it was john tavares."

when your former captain is endorsing crystal amulet shit pic.twitter.com/wjH3KKsW2q

— the late great hannibal liz (@thedeparted_rat) October 15, 2024

While Tavares has had the partnership for a while, it didn't appear to have much reach when it first launched.

That all changed as a result of the X thread, and yes, the endorsement is very real.

"As a professional athlete, one of my top priorities is staying healthy and recovering quickly when dealing with injuries," Tavares said in a release earlier this year. "After discovering Aires technology four years ago, I have seen tremendous benefits to my recovery and overall health. I am honoured to join the team at Aires and excited to share my experiences with the products more broadly."

The release (and his testimonial on the company website) refer to him as the Leafs captain, which is no longer accurate after Auston Matthews took over the role this summer, but it was the truth when Tavares signed the deal with Aires Tech.

Toronto Raptors forward RJ Barrett is also listed as a spokesperson for the company, while Canada Basketball has a partnership with them.

The cheapest product on the site appears to go for C$124, though various products can send you back upwards of $500, with an advertised reach of over "100,000 happy customers."

"Aires' EMF protection products are designed for convenience. Just have them near any source of radiation, and they start working," a note on the site reads, supposedly as an attempt to explain the amulet's magical powers.

In an odd twist of fate, Tavares has already missed one game this season due to illness, meaning the amulet may not exactly have a 100 per cent success rate at keeping its wearers healthy.

Whether Tavares really did approach the company or really believes in its technologies is a question that remains unanswered, but one we will definitely remain curious about.