By: Ryan Bosworth | Follow me on Twitter/X @RyanJBosworth
As the 2026-27 National Hockey League season continues to get closer, the Boston Bruins are beginning to gear up for the campaign. Players are beginning to prepare for training camp, and management and coaching staff are gearing up right along with them.
Part of what coaching and management are sitting down to do is looking at naming a formal captain. Boston has famously always had extremely strong leadership throughout their history. Names like Ray Bourque, Zdeno Chara, and Patrice Bergeron donned the ‘C’ for Boston through their decorated history.
After trading Bergeron’s successor in Brad Marchand at the 2025 NHL trade deadline, the Bruins went captain-less for the remainder of the 2024-25 season, and the entirety of the 2025-26 season.
The Bruins leadership served by committee during the 2026-27 season, with David Pastrnak and Charlie McAvoy at the helm, they were joined by Hampus Lindholm, Nikita Zadorov, and Elias Lindholm all donning the third ‘A’ at some point throughout the season.
At the Jimmy Fund’s Radio-Telethon, Cam Neely was asked about naming a formal captain for the upcoming season and beyond, Neely gave a bit of a head-scratcher answer. He responded to the question, stating, “I don’t know if you necessarily need to have a guy, unless there is that guy that really stands out.”
While it isn’t a certain answer in either direction, Neely certainly seems to give a hint at which way he’s leaning, and that’s a second consecutive season of leadership by committee. There are, however, a few reasons why this answer leaves some scratching their heads.
David Pastrnak took a massive step forward when it came to his locker room presence and leadership amongst a pretty young Bruins team over the past two seasons, and players have been extremely vocal about it. It was also extremely evident during the 2026 Stanley Cup Playoffs. When his teammates weren’t showing up for games on time, he was sure to let them know about it.
The other major piece of what comes with naming a formal captain is when it comes to winning Stanley Cups. There have been just two teams that won a Stanley Cup without a formal captain. Ironically, both times were the Boston Bruins in 1970 and 1972.
Hockey was certainly a different sport back then, and looking at a new era of hockey and the NHL, it’s far less than likely a team can win a Stanley Cup without a formal captain. Every team that’s won a Stanley Cup has had a strong leadership core, and at the helm of it all is a formal captain.
It’s pretty easy to argue that the Bruins have made some steps in the right direction since heading out in the direction of a retool. Acquiring more talent, shedding some questionable contracts, and bringing in strong coaching staff were all steps in the right direction for a team with a desire to go beyond just making the playoffs. This is a team that has an end goal of winning a Stanley Cup, and if they want a real shot at doing that, they need to name a captain.
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