Bruins Make Surprising Decision On Captain Vacancy

Thursday, August 20, 2026
The Boston Bruins are heading into a second straight season without a captain, and the front office surprisingly isn't in any rush to change that.

Team president Cam Neely addressed the vacancy during the WEEI/NESN Jimmy Fund Radio-Telethon, confirming the organization still hasn't decided whether to name someone before training camp. "I don't know if you necessarily need to have a guy unless there is that one guy that really stands out," Neely said. "We've been blessed to have great captains here."

Two Obvious Candidates

Boston's captaincy has been open since trading Brad Marchand to the Florida Panthers in March 2025, and David Pastrnak and Charlie McAvoy have been the runaway favorites to fill it ever since. 

Both have worn an alternate captain's "A" throughout the vacancy, alongside Hampus Lindholm, with Nikita Zadorov and Elias Lindholm filling in when needed.

Pastrnak has been part of Boston's leadership group since 2021-22 and just posted 71 assists while dragging linemate Morgan Geekie to a second straight 30-goal season. 

McAvoy, 28, put up a career-high 60-plus points last season while playing through a broken jaw and a broken hand, then won Olympic gold with Team USA in Milan, with his lone blemish being a six-game suspension for slashing Buffalo's Zach Benson in Game 6 of Boston's first-round playoff loss.

Neely Isn't Rushing It

Neely pointed to Ray Bourque, Zdeno Chara, and Patrice Bergeron as the standard the Bruins hold the position to, and suggested the current arrangement might simply continue. 

"Maybe it's more of a tradition in hockey where you have a letter on your sweater," Neely said. "We like leaders, not followers. So you can hopefully have 20 leaders."

GM Don Sweeney offered a similar explanation back in May: "When you're talking about two players that are currently captains and a big, big part of our leadership group, you're not in a position thinking you're choosing between somebody," Sweeney said. 

"We look at the big picture and say, where's everybody in their own personal development, their own family dynamic, and who can impact us the most without impacting themselves and how they go about their daily life."

The Bruins are far from the only team without a captain heading into 2026-27. 10 NHL teams will open the season with the letter unassigned, believed to be the most at one time in league history.

Neely did leave the door open to real movement soon, confirming he, Sweeney, and head coach Marco Sturm plan to sit down shortly to discuss the decision. Sturm himself said in his final press conference of last season that he wouldn't mind having a captain in place, even if he didn't believe the vacancy hurt Boston's brief playoff run.

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