BOSTON — Ahead of a year that will start differently than any Bruins season for a long time, Tuesday’s captain’s practice with no actual captain seemed a little fitting.
A good chunk of the 2025-26 Boston roster was present for the annual organized coachless workout at Warrior Arena as the Bruins begin the year with a new coach, lots of new players, new motivation and new leadership.
Charlie McAvoy and David Pastrnak are the de facto captains. They were alternate captains last year and no replacement was named when Brad Marchand was traded.
For the past 20 years, the handoff from captain to captain was natural. Zdeno Chara donned the C in 2006 and led the Bruins to a Stanley Cup and two other trips to the finals. His leadership established the culture that the Bruins have defined themselves by for the last 20 years. Patrice Bergeron and Marchand each took the baton and extended the team’s culture and success on the ice.
But after last year’s struggles prompted an overhaul in the franchise, the role of the leaders changed. McAvoy and Pastrnak will try to spur their teammates back to playoff contention.
McAvoy takes the role seriously. He said he’s been studying how to be a better leader, while at the same time staying true to himself.
“It’s a little bit of everything. Part of being a leader is: you don’t want to change too much of who you are,” said the veteran defenseman, who was back at 100 percent after an injury-shortened season. “But that doesn’t mean that we can’t become better versions of ourselves, better hockey players, better people. So I think that’s what we’re striving to do. … There are certain outlets that you can use to try and get better at that, and I think we’re pursuing quite a few of them.”
About 25 players were on the ice on Tuesday and more are expected on Thursday. Pastrnak, who splits his offseason between Czechia and Sweden, was back in Boston earlier than usual, partially to try to help bring his new teammates together.
“It’s never been about one guy here,” Pastrnak said. “And I know it might have seemed like it many years before that with guys like Bergy and Zee, it was always a group decision. Our main focus is to bring the team together and be competitive every single night.”
McAvoy called the task more of an honor than a burden.
“We have to try and build it back up. It’s different. It’s a completely different group … But mostly it’s just a great opportunity more than anything,” he said. “To have that thrust on us to be responsible for it, I think it’s something that we look at and we’re excited about. We’re not looking at it as more of a daunting task. It’s something that we’re just honored to be trusted with”.
Pastrnak is usually happy-go-lucky, but he was serious about restoring the standard.
“The expectation is always the same here,” he said. “You play for Original Six (team), they are very high, and they will always be here. … That’s the one message we’re going to have and we won’t accept what happened last year. The team that’s going to dress up in October, we’re going to be very competitive.”
The Bruins start training camp on Sept. 15.
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