There are a lot of questions facing the Boston Bruins entering the 2026-27 season. Whether it's roster decisions with younger players or how things will shake out on defense with the overabundance of defensemen the Black and Gold have. They will also have to figure out how to navigate the first six games with Charlie McAvoy, who will be suspended.
However, there is one question that a lot of Boston fans will have, "Who will be the captain in 2026-27 if there even will be one?''
That's a fair question, but team president Cam Neely didn't sound like he was in a rush to name a captain while joining the Rich and Ken with Ted Johnson show on WEEI during the Jimmy Fund Marathon at Fenway Park this week.
“I don’t know if you 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.... We like leaders, not followers. So you can hopefully have 20 leaders. That’s the one thing that we look at: who is going to help lead the team?''
Bruins likely to play 2026-27 without a captain
I know this will shock a lot of people, but it certainly sounds like the Bruins will be entering the upcoming season with no captain. Neely went on to say that general manager Don Sweeney and head coach Marco Sturm will sit down and talk about it soon, but commenting about 20 leaders makes you believe that there is no plan in place to name a captain. I hope I'm wrong, but it doesn't sound like it'll happen.
So, who would be the choices for the next captain of the Boston Bruins? There are two clear choices: McAvoy and David Pastrnak. The only two. However, it doesn't feel like management wants to upset the apple cart and name one over the other. That has to be the only reason why one hasn't been named. If you had to pick between the two, who would you choose? I would choose Pastrnak, but that's just me.
Training camp begins in less than a month at Warrior Ice Arena. Neely, Sweeney, and Sturm will meet before then. Given Neely's comments, it's hard to imagine that a captain will be named before practices begin, but you never know. If there is one thing that you have learned throughout Neely and Sweeney's tenures in Boston, expect the unexpected. However, this time might not be one of those times.
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