What Charlie McAvoy said about Bruins’ vacant captaincy role

As of right now, the Boston Bruins will not have a captain for the 2025–2026 campaign.

Brad Marchand, who was moved to Florida in March, won a Cup with the Panthers, and then re-upped with Boston’s rival on a six-year contract extension a few weeks later, was the last player to wear the C on a black-and-gold sweater.

The majority of people look to David Pastrnak and Charlie McAvoy as the next generation of team leaders as the Bruins try to write a new chapter in their history and reorganize around a new core grouping going ahead.

In addition to being two of the NHL’s best players, Pastrnak and McAvoy have made names for themselves as Boston’s alternate captains in recent years.

In an interview with Steve Conroy of the Boston Herald, McAvoy emphasized that there is no urgency to select a captain for the upcoming campaign as the Bruins consider their possibilities for creating a new leadership structure going ahead.

Instead, the defenseman for the Boston Bruins thinks that he and Pastrnak will work well together to help guide the team back to the postseason.

We’re both going to have As at the start of this year. “I know that,” McAvoy informed Conroy. They don’t seem motivated to accomplish anything with that [captaincy duty], in my opinion. And you know what? That’s perfectly OK.

And he and I both know that this is our squad, regardless of the letters. “And it’s going to be just the two of us and a lot of other guys for however many years we get to be here,” McAvoy continued. However, since he and I are now parents, there is no one else I would rather do it with, and I am confident that we will improve one another both on and off the ice.

Pastrnak led Boston through a difficult last stretch of the 2024–25 season as McAvoy spent the last few months recovering from a shoulder ailment and infection.

However, the Bruins star winger also emphasized this spring that he isn’t focusing on titles like the captaincy going ahead, despite taking on a more vocal role in Boston’s dressing room and still packing the stat sheet (43 goals, 106 points over 82 games).

It was never about who wore the C or who wore the A with the leaders I was surrounded by. During the team’s break-up day in April, Prattnak stated, “Everyone in the room is equal here, and we need to make sure that’s one of the things that we have to [find] a group that is willing to put the work in.” It isn’t just about one man.

Even though it doesn’t matter who ends up wearing a letter, it begins with a communal effort and requires cooperation from all of us. It has always been this way, and we must continue to make sure that everyone is treated equally here, regardless of age.