No one knows more about being captain of the Boston Bruins than Ray Bourque. He wore the ‘C’ for 15 years from 1985-2000, the longest captaincy in franchise history.
So, what does Bourque think about the 2025-26 Bruins beginning the season without a captain? Well, Greg Hill asked that when Bourque joined WEEI Wednesday morning ahead of the start of Bruins training camp.
“I think it just tells you that they want maybe a couple guys to step up and to take charge and to show that they’re the guy,” Bourque said. “I think they haven’t seen that yet, so that’s why you’re seeing three assistants.”
David Pastrnak and Charlie McAvoy are expected to be two of the players who will wear an ‘A’ this season. Both were already doing that as alternates to Brad Marchand. Who wears the third ‘A’ remains to be seen. Hampus Lindholm would be a good guess, but it’s possible the Bruins could pick someone else or even rotate it through a few players.
Pastrnak and McAvoy are also the two strongest candidates to eventually take over the ‘C,’ but, as Bourque alluded to, it’s clear that the Bruins want to see how things play out this season and how each of them lead before picking one. General manager Don Sweeney said as much last week.
“We've been forward with everybody and honest with everybody that we're going to start without it,” Sweeney said. “We've got a leadership group that's been meeting amongst themselves, and I think eventually somebody will emerge as the guy that should be the next captain. It comes with a lot of responsibility, so I'd like to see a little more organic, natural progression of it rather than just, with a new coach, having management or somebody… I just think those two things, if one does it without everybody being on the same page, it can become awkward. I think now we just move forward with the leadership group that's going to be established, and let Marco have his own communication with them, and let them have communication with themselves in terms of what direction they want to take this team, and who emerges as the ultimate leader and the next captain of the Boston Bruins.”
As for how Bourque sees the Bruins doing this season, he’s optimistic about the defense and goaltending but, like most of us, is wondering where the offense is going to come from.
“I think goaltending should be very strong,” Bourque said. “[Jeremy Swayman] I think is coming in refreshed and in a good place mentally. He had a great World Championship. The U.S. won gold. He’s coming off of that, and he’s got a lot to play for with the Olympics coming up. And I think the defense is gonna be very strong. So, I think those two things are gonna be their strong points.
“Obviously when we think about scoring, that’s the big point. I’m not sure how they’re gonna score enough goals to win. Obviously [David Pastrnak] is one of the best players in the world. I think they’re gonna be tougher to play against with the depth that they’ve gotten this summer. I think they’ll be tough to play against, they’ll be harder, but there will be a lot of tight games, one-goal games. Hopefully they find themselves on the right side of the score for that.”