Bruins
“So [I have] complete faith in those guys to carry on that culture and legacy and continue to add to it.”
For the first time since April 2006, the Bruins do not have an appointed captain on their roster.
Boston’s nearly 20-year contention window — ushered in by the likes of Patrice Bergeron and Zdeno Chara — has been rooted in a stable leadership group, with the captaincy passed from Chara to Bergeron and Marchand since the start of the 2006-07 season.
With Marchand now chasing a Cup in Florida, there is some uncertainty on Boston’s roster as to which player will have the “C” etched on his sweater in 2025-26.
While Marchand was noncommittal on Tuesday when asked about potentially returning to the Bruins in free agency this July, he also stressed that the future of the Bruins’ leadership core is in good hands with David Pastrnak and Charlie McAvoy presiding over the room.
“They both lead in different ways and I think they — especially together — the way I look at that is a Bergy-Zee thing where they’re co-leaders and where they have different ways they can lead,” Marchand said. “But they’ve been around, they’ve seen it and the way that Zee and Bergy have built that culture and what’s expected every single day.
“So [I have] complete faith in those guys to carry on that culture and legacy and continue to add to it. Not just carry it, but you got to leave it better than you found it.”
With the Bruins forging a new chapter moving forward after Friday’s deadline sell-off, Marchand believes that both Pastrnak and McAvoy — both signed through 2030 on their respective deals — will be able to maintain the current culture, while also letting it grow as the next wave of talent comes in.
“That’s one thing that I, especially with the term those guys are on and how young they are, I think they have a great opportunity ahead of them to kind of carve their own path and build a legacy that they’re excited about and lead the way that they want to,” Marchand said.
That’s what Zee did when he came in. He had an idea of how he wanted to lead and how he wanted to change things and he put it in motion and then Bergy came in and the two of them just took over and did their thing. So those guys have that opportunity to do the same thing now.”
Pastrnak has let his play do the talking on the ice since Friday’s flurry of deals — recording three points (one goal, two assists) in Boston’s regular wins over a pair of the top teams in the Eastern Conference in the Lightning and Panthers.
Pastrnak has played a large role in Boston’s slim odds as a playoff team this season, with the 28-year-old winger now up to 62 points (25 goals, 37 assists) in his last 43 games.
But even though Pastrnak has stressed that he’s not focused on Boston’s captaincy as the Bruins try to crawl back into the postseason picture, Jeremy Swayman harped on Pastrnak’s active role in galvanizing a dressing room that has undergone plenty of changes as of late.
“Seamless transition,” Swayman said Tuesday of Pastrnak’s growing riole. “He’s been so good and just a natural leader. I think that he’s had success in this league for so long because he’s been around really high-quality leaders.
“And now [it’s] him taking that step of using the tools that he’s learned, and now implementing it to his game. … a ton of kudos to him for the way that he’s done it gracefully and just taking it with open arms. It’s not an easy ask, and he’s done a really good job with it so far, so I’m really excited to see what he does.”
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