How David Pastrnak Addressed Possibly Taking Over As Bruins Captain

The Boston Bruins have a captain vacancy after trading away Brad Marchand to the Florida Panthers this past Friday.

Most point to either David Pastrnak or Charlie McAvoy, who both are alternate captains for the Bruins this season, taking over the illustrious role for the Original Six franchise.

Pastrnak was asked Monday, following Bruins practice, about possibly taking over as captain. But the star winger didn’t tip his hand on how he felt about it.

“I have not thought about it, honestly,” Pastrnak told reporters, per team-provided video. “I got the A and I haven’t changed a bit. Obviously, the role changed a little bit. You lead more, but you just try to stay being yourself. Right now, we have 17 games left and that’s been my main focus to build on those two games (against the Tampa Bay Lightning and Carolina Hurricanes). We played pretty good hockey last two and this has to be our standard the rest of the season and see where it takes us.”

If Pastrnak does get promoted to captain, it won’t come this season. General manager Don Sweeney already said the Bruins won’t name an official captain for the rest of the season.

Pastrnak seems primed to assume the role, though. He developed from a teenager breaking into the NHL a decade ago into a leader in the Bruins locker room. Pastrnak has been an alternate captain for the past four seasons.

Pastrnak learned what it took to be a leader by watching the three players — Zdeno Chara, Patrice Bergeron and Marchand — who have captained the Bruins during his tenure with Boston. And their example feels like it rubbed off on possibly the next captain of the Bruins.

“It’s an incredible job what has been done here in the past two decades,” Pastrnak said. “I’ve been around them. They’re all different, but similar at the end of the day. I had the pleasure to be with them every single day and work with them. They try to make you better as a player, as a person and make you grow up fast. A lot of stuff I’ve learned from them and I can’t thank them enough for what I’ve been through with them. Obviously, going to have to try to carry that over to this group.”