Boston Bruins
Bruins Don’t Expect To Have a Captain For 2025-26 Season
Every member of the Boston Bruins will have a Spoked-B on their jerseys this upcoming year. A few will have an ‘A’ on their chests, but no one is expected to wear the almighty ‘C’.
The Bruins do not anticipate they’ll name a captain ahead of the upcoming 2025-26 season, and will instead roll into the year with David Pastrnak and Charlie McAvoy serving as alternates atop the team’s hierarchy.
“Going into this year, we’re both going to have A’s. That’s what I know,” McAvoy told Steve Conroy of the Boston Herald. “I don’t think there’s any fire under them to do anything with that. And guess what? That’s totally fine.”
New Bruins head coach Marco Sturm hinted back in June it was possible the team could forgo without a captain this season. He knows who is players are on the ice, but wants to get to know them as people before he and management make such a monumental decision.
“If you’re a Boston Bruin, it’s a big deal. If you’re not 100 percent sure, then no, you don’t [have to name a captain],” Sturm said on 98.5 The Sports Hub. “I’m the coach, and I’m not going to say I’m making that decision alone. I don’t want to because it’s different. Again, it’s the Boston Bruins, and it is a big deal. That’s something we’re going to talk about. We both have to agree that this is the right guy. We will, but I don’t know when.”
The Bruins have been without a captain since they traded Brad Marchand to the Florida Panthers back in March amid what was an overall disparaging season, that ended with them missing the playoffs for the first time in nearly a decade. As they head into what’s shaping up to be a transitional year in the franchise’s history, the Bruins will lean on Pastrnak and McAvoy, their two longest-tenured players, to lead them through it.
“We know that this is our team, me and him,” said McAvoy. “And for however many years we get to be here, it’s going to be us two, along with a lot of other guys, right? But this is our baby now, me and him, and there’s nobody else that I’d rather do it with and I know we’re going to make each other better, on and off the ice.”
Part of that responsibility will be indoctrinating new faces into the Bruins’ longstanding culture. Boston made several additions this offseason–acquiring Viktor Arvidsson via trade, and signing free agents Mikey Eyssimont, Tanner Jeannot, Jordan Harris, and Sean Kuraly, among others. None of which are expected to help move the needle all that much, but should, in theory, help the Bruins be a team that opponents dread playing.
“We can be a hard out,” McAvoy said. “I think we’ve always been a defensive team. That’s probably been what makes us our best for a while now. We have great goaltending and great defense. Now we have what looks to be physical, probably more on the defensive side of forwards. Still, we have a lot of production coming back from that top six. We have offense. We have guys who can score. But if we do have to be that defensive team, then let’s be that team that no one wants to be against. Let’s win ugly games. I’m excited to see what it’s going to look like and how they want us to play.”
That will be determined once the Bruins begin their season on Oct. 8 against the Washington Capitals.
