Major announcement forthcoming from Bruins
Head coach Jim Montgomery confirmed the news.
HockeyFeed
With the retirement of both Patrice Bergeron and David Krejci along with the subtractions of Taylor Hall, Tyler Bertuzzi, Nick Foligno and Dmitri Orlov from the Boston Bruins this offseason, it's Brad Marchand who is now the de facto team leader along with David Pastrnak.
But do the Bruins plan on actually naming an official team captain for the upcoming season, or will it simply be like what a handful of other teams have done in the past with three assistant captains? According to head coach Jim Montgomery, it will be the former.
“I think we are trending in the right direction towards having someone be our captain [this season],” Montgomery explained on Thursday. “We’ve had internal conversations, and I think decisions will be made. I don’t know if there’s a timeline on that yet. We have enough real good leaders where we could have a captain that would be leading us.”
“Someone that is confident in who they are, someone that isn’t afraid to put his arm around a teammate, and also hold a teammate accountable,” Montgomery replied when asked what he expects from his new captain. “And also not afraid to come in my office and hold me accountable to what he believes in and make sure I’m doing the right thing for this organization."
Meanwhile, Montgomery is well aware that it's going to be an adjustment with whomever the ultimate responsibility falls upon, but that it's also simply part of the job like any other.
“I’m going to have an adjustment with whoever the captain is because I had a relationship with Bergy that’s going to be different with them,” Montgomery said. “It’s no different than when you’re working at work. You have colleagues that you communicate with differently, and some you have to listen more to.
The obvious choice would Marchand, who was a rookie on the 2010-11 Stanley Cup squad, and has grown not only into one of Boston's best players, but one of the best pests in the NHL today. Oh, and he also happens to be the longest-serving player on Boston's roster.
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