Bruins Set to Name Captain Ahead of 2026-27 Season
After an offseason of speculation, the Boston Bruins will have a captain for the 2026-27 season.
Bruins general manager Don Sweeney confirmed the news in a press conference on Wednesday afternoon.
“We are going to announce a captain this year and we'll do that before opening night, so nobody has to ask who it is or whatnot,” said Sweeney. “We've spent a lot of time [deciding]. We understand the legacy of our organization and we want to do it the right way. But we made that perfectly clear that we'll be announcing that before the season starts.”
Boston has not had a captain since Brad Marchand was traded to the Florida Panthers in March of 2025. He was in the position from 2023 until his trade.
Although the team did not have a captain in 2025-26, the Bruins did have forward David Pastrnak, defenseman Charlie McAvoy, and defenseman Hampus Lindholm serve as alternate captains.
In August, while speaking to WEEI’s Rich Shertenlieb and NESN’s Tom Caron during the WEEI/NESN Jimmy Fund Radio Telethon, Bruins president Cam Neely stated that he believes a captain is not a requirement, but the topic was still being discussed.
“I don't know if you'd necessarily need to have a guy unless there is that one guy that really stands out,” said Neely. “We've been blessed to have great captains here from [Ray] Bourque, [Zdeno] Chara, [Patrice] Bergeron. We like leaders, not followers, so you could hopefully have 20 leaders. That's the one thing that we look at is who's going to help lead the team. Maybe it's more of a tradition in hockey where you got a letter on your sweater, but I think Don [Sweeney], Marco [Sturm], and I are going to sit down shortly to talk about that, actually.”
Sweeney spoke about that comment on Wednesday.
“I think I addressed the fact that we are going to name a captain,” said Sweeney. “So, we took our time. We allowed the leadership group [to develop] last year. We know who's at the forefront of that leadership group. Cam’s [Neely] reference [was] because there wasn't a timetable. And being asked on the spot, there's no reason for me to declare anything different than what we just did. And we've been talking about this for a while. We know exactly what we're going to do, but last year was a good example of allowing players that are going to be required in that leadership role to organically step forward and we're in a good place.”
The Bruins open their season on Sept. 29 hosting the New York Rangers. Puck drop is set for 8 p.m. ET on ESPN.
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Kim Rankin is a lead writer for Boston Bruins on SI and Boston College On SI. A 2020 graduate of the University of Alabama. she joined Alabama Crimson Tide On SI in February 2024 covering baseball, softball, football, men’s basketball, and more for BamaCentral, but has also contributed to Missouri Tigers On SI. She previously worked as the brand manager at Tide 100.9 FM in Tuscaloosa, Ala. She has covered a wide variety of events including SEC Championships, NCAA Regionals, and bowl games.