Bruins name David Pastrnak captain

The wait is over. The Boston Bruins announced Sunday morning that they have named David Pastrnak the 28th captain in franchise history.

The Bruins haven't had a captain since trading away Brad Marchand in March 2025, going all of last season without one. Pastrnak, Charlie McAvoy and Hampus Lindholm served as the team's three alternate captains last year, with Nikita Zadorov and Elias Lindholm also occasionally wearing an 'A' if someone was out.

The decision on the next 'C' was always going to come down to Pastrnak or McAvoy, the two longest-tenured Bruins. General manager Don Sweeney announced at the start of training camp that the team would indeed name a captain before opening night on Tuesday, and now that announcement has officially come with two days to spare.

"Obviously very grateful and humbled," Pastrnak said Sunday of the honor. "I'm honored to be the captain, and obviously I recognize all the responsibility that comes with it. I can't wait. My biggest goal is to be the best version for the team and the Bruins organization."

Pastrnak enters the 2026-27 season already ranked fifth in Bruins history in goals (420) and sixth in points (933). A 40-goal season would move him into second in goals behind only Johnny Bucyk, and 80 points would move him up to fourth in points.

As far as Pastrnak's leadership is concerned, a significant breakthrough came after that aforementioned March 2025 trade deadline sell-off, when Pastrnak was left as the only real leader left in the room, as McAvoy was out injured at the time. Players and coaches both spoke positively of the way Pastrnak stepped up during what was obviously a difficult stretch for the team.

It was also hard to miss the fact that promising young forwards Fraser Minten and James Hagens were both given lockers right next to Pastrnak when they first got to Boston, a clear sign that Pastrnak would be taking them under his wing. There was a visual representation of that just last week, when Pastrnak had Hagens join him on the ice before practice for some 1-on-1 time.

McAvoy and Hampus Lindholm are expected to once again be alternate captains this season. McAvoy said earlier in camp that he didn't anticipate any tension between him and Pastrnak once the decision on the 'C' was made.

"No, I don’t," McAvoy said. "I mean, look, we’ve been here a long time, the two of us. Dave’s going to be, I think, a Hall of Famer. I think he’ll be retired here. He’s done so much. Who he is as a person and as a teammate and what he means to this organization and team, I love him to death. He would be extremely deserving. Whatever happens, it’s out of my hands, but I don’t think there would be any friction. … We lean on everybody.

“That’s how Zee [Zdeno Chara] did it, that’s how Bergy [Patrice Bergeron] did it. It’s not something that you just do alone, so I think it was a good exercise last year and collaboration in how we wanted to do it together."

Pastrnak echoed those sentiments on Sunday.

"It's not a competition between us," he said. "Nothing's going to change just because I have the C. We are still leading this team together, and we're going to continue doing that."