The Bruins went through the 2025-26 season without a captain, and they still made it back to the postseason after a one-year absence. That leaves Marco Sturm with a pretty good problem heading into 2026-27: Boston has more than one player who can make a real case for the golden “C.”
This is a franchise that has long leaned on its captains to set the tone, and the list of names attached to that role tells you how much weight it carries in Boston. Joe Thornton, Brad Marchand, Patrice Bergeron, Zdeno Chara - that’s the standard. If the Bruins decide the time is right to name someone in 2026, there are four obvious candidates and one intriguing long shot.
David Pastrnak looks like the front-runner. He’s been the engine of Boston’s offense for years now, and he has topped 100 points in four straight seasons. Pastrnak also entered 2023-24 as one of the team’s alternate captains, and he’s already talked about how that role changed his approach in the room.
“Knowing that I have to have a voice a little bit more in the locker room than past years," Pastrnak said. "I was always the same on the ice and on the bench. I spoke up when I feel like I should on the bench, but in the room, I would never speak up because we had leaders like Bergy, previously Z [Zdeno Chara], Marchy always, [Nick] Foligno, David Backes.
"Obviously we lost some of the voices in the locker room. ... I definitely try to speak up ands hear my voice a little bit more in the locker room between periods than in the past.”
With four seasons left on his contract, Pastrnak is locked in for the long haul. He already has the production, the stature and the voice to wear the C.
Charlie McAvoy is right there too. He was also named an alternate captain ahead of 2023-24, and last season he delivered a career-high 61 points in 69 games.
Boston has a history of looking to the back end for leadership, and that matters here. Chara and Raymond Bourque were the longest-serving captains in franchise history, holding the job for 14 and 13 years, respectively.
McAvoy fits that mold in a way the Bruins may value.
Hampus Lindholm gives Boston another strong option. He became an alternate captain before the start of the 2025-26 season, and while his game doesn’t pop in the same way Pastrnak’s or McAvoy’s does, that’s not really the point.
Lindholm’s value comes from the sort of hard, steady work teams lean on when the games tighten up. Shot blocks, deflections and poke checks all fit his profile, and leadership can absolutely come in that package.
Then there’s Jeremy Swayman, the wild card in the group. Goalies almost never wear the captain’s C, and no netminder has served as his team’s primary captain since Roberto Luongo with the Canucks.
Swayman would be bucking a long-running convention if Boston ever went that route. Still, he has made a strong enough case to at least stay in the conversation.
He drew rave reviews in 2025-26, finished third in Vezina voting and posted a glittering 87 GA%-. Since entering the league in 2020-21, he has been one of the NHL’s best in net.
Of course, Sturm could decide not to name anyone at all. He already passed on appointing a captain in 2025-26, and the Bruins didn’t seem derailed by it. That leaves the door open for him to keep things as they are in 2026-27, even with Pastrnak, McAvoy and Lindholm all making reasonable cases for the job.
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