Marco Sturm Addresses Lack of Bruins Captain

Photo Courtesy of the Boston Bruins

Another decision the Boston Bruins will consider making this offseason is whether or not to name a captain before they take the ice in the fall.

They did not for the 2025-26 season, opting for three alternate captains instead. David Pastrnak, Charlie McAvoy, and Hampus Lindholm wore the ‘A’s’ on their sweater, while many more veteran players emerged as leaders throughout the campaign.

Now, Marco Sturm is not too sure. He liked what the Bruins had, and he said it during breakup day on Sunday.

“I always said I wanted a captain, but now, being through that first time, me as a head coach, not having a captain, I thought it went real well,” said Sturm. “I just, maybe because guys were really close, the leadership group, I thought they did a good job overall. Everyone had their input. There was no outsider. We always kept it really tight. So I actually didn’t mind it.”

“Having said that, that will be more of a conversation to have with Don [Sweeney], how we are going to move forward,” Sturm added. “But personally, I liked how we handled, and especially the players, how they handled this situation all year long.”

Sturm did not commit to naming a captain before the 2026-27 season.

After all, Sweeney met with McAvoy and Pastrnak early last summer to discuss how they planned to bring the culture back. Then Sweeney said he was not going to rush to name the next ‘C,’ but instead it will be someone who “emerges” as the man for the role.

“Leading into the year, we met with Sweens (Don Sweeney) this time last year, and we talked a lot about how we wanted to reestablish the culture. We spent a lot of time in the offseason doing that and trying to have a real strategic game plan on what we wanted to do, how we wanted to grow, me and David [Pastrnak] as leaders, getting more people to be a part of the leadership group,” alternate captain Charlie McAvoy said. “We put some onus on guys to want to be leaders and be a part of it, and everybody did amazing.”