Why the Bruins Don’t Need to Rush to Name a Captain

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The Boston Bruins are one of five teams in the NHL without a captain.

It worked. Why not stick with it?

On Bruins breakup day, Marco Sturm said he “thought it went real well,” especially for his first year in the league. After initially wanting a captain, he did not commit to naming one ahead of next season, but said further conversations with GM Don Sweeney were needed.

On Wednesday, Sweeney, Bruins president Cam Neely, and CEO/alternate governor Charlie Jacobs addressed the media in their end-of-season press conference. A range of topics were discussed, including the vacant captaincy.

“I think obviously we would love to name a captain, but we’ve had some great captains here, so one of the things that we want to do is make sure we’re picking the right guy, and Marco is going to be a big part of that,” said Neely. “So having a new coach come in and implementing a new system, getting to know the players, I think it only made sense to see how the season played out, and then we’re going to have plenty… we’ve already started discussions about that, for sure, and we’re going to have plenty more in this offseason.”

The Bruins can name a captain whenever they want, and in years past, they have announced their captain closer to the start of the season.

Before the season started, Don Sweeney talked about having a captain “emerge,” and though the Bruins have two deserving candidates, nothing went wrong with the leadership group in the 2025-26 season.

The Bruins have more immediate work to do in the offseason, like adding speed and skill while addressing needs for a first-line center and a right-shot defenseman.

The Bruins have leadership, even without someone labeled as the team’s captain, and they showed it this season. David Pastrnak, , and wore the ‘A’s’ on their sweater. and filled in when any were unavailable.