Marco Sturm isn’t asking the Bruins to chase a clone of Patrice Bergeron or Zdeno Chara.
That’s the big takeaway from his latest comments on Boston’s captaincy situation, and it leaves David Pastrnak right in the middle of the conversation. With the Bruins still without a captain and their first preseason game approaching, Sturm laid out a clear message: leadership in Boston does not have to look the way it once did.
Speaking with Evan Marinofsky on the “Bruins Beat” podcast, Sturm pushed back on the idea that the Bruins need to recreate the template set by some of the most respected captains in franchise history.
"One of the problems and issues we have here in Boston is that we had a guy like Bergeron, that we had a guy like Chara, or even Ray Bourque," Sturm said. "We had such good, high-quality captains here. So everyone thinks automatically, 'Oh, we need a guy like him.'
"But that's different. Those guys are gone. It's a new generation; they're different now."
He went even further when discussing Pastrnak, the 12-year veteran who has become one of the clearest faces of the team’s leadership group.
"If you look at our guys now, I think David, he's a totally different leader as a Bergeron or Chara. Totally different.
Which is absolutely fine," Sturm said. "I played with a guy like [Alex] Ovechkin.
He's like that. He's totally different.
[That] doesn't mean he's a bad leader; he just does things differently."
That matters because Pastrnak is one of the two longest-tenured players left in the room, alongside Charlie McAvoy, who is entering his 10th season. Since Brad Marchand was traded to the Panthers in March 2025, those two have been at the center of Boston’s leadership group. Last season, the Bruins played without a captain altogether and leaned on veteran voices instead.
Sturm made it clear he still sees value in naming one. At the same time, he said the Bruins already have enough leadership in the locker room to function either way.
"I do believe we have good leaders in our locker room," Sturm said on the podcast. "For me, personally, as a coach, he needs a strong voice in the room, obviously, but also who helps me out.
He should be the connection between coaches and also for the players in a lot of different areas of the game, on ice, off ice, you name it. Also, he can stay very calm during stressful moments."
Even if Boston goes another season without handing out the "C," Sturm doesn’t sound rattled by it. The Bruins managed to rebound from their disappointing 2024-25 campaign while operating without a captain, and Sturm’s stance suggests the label itself is not the urgent part.
Still, he does want one if the timing is right.
"I like to have a captain," Sturm said. "I don't know if it's going to happen now or later, whatever it is, but it's definitely something I think as a coach you always rely on a guy like that."
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