Bruins general manager explains plan for next captain

The Bruins have a lot of questions to answer going into the 2025-26 season including who the next captain will be.

Boston traded its captain Brad Marchand in March at the deadline and decided not to give the ‘C’ to anyone for the remainder of the 2024-25 campaign. Now it’s another hole to be filled.

It’s a big decision to make, but Bruins general manager Don Sweeney didn’t offer too much in way of an answer during his appearance on the “100% Hockey” podcast.

“We’re gonna go through that process, as well, and make that (decision) organizationally whether that’s the best decision for us,” Sweeney said. “I’ve described the fact that we need to reestablish what our leadership group is. Obviously, over the course of the last three years, we’ve had a lot of turnover and I believe it’s an organic situation and one that’s not forced.”

Before Marchand was named captain, Patrice Bergeron held the title for three seasons, who took over the captaincy from Zdeno Chara after a 14-year run. Now Chara and Bergeron have retired and Marchand is with the Florida Panthers.

David Pastrnak and Charlie McAvoy come to mind as the next potential captain — both of which have become leaders during their time in Boston. They’ve both expressed a desire to be a good leader and both have been alternate captains and probably would be frontrunners to wear the ‘C’ next season.

“We have some great guys that are looking forward to filling those voids,” Sweeney said. “Peel back a year ago, I thought a lot of this transition was going to happen a year ago with the departure of Patrice. ... Some of the things guys were going through, we had a difficult time having that galvanized leadership approach to things, and we need to go about getting back to reestablishing that.”

Before the Bruins name their next captain – if they decide to do so for the 2025-26 season — they need to find their next coach. Sweeney said during the team’s end-of-season media availability that interim coach Joe Sacco will be part of the candidates, but will conduct an extensive search.