Brad Marchand named subsequent captain of the Boston Bruins

Bruins

Marchand is about to enter his fifteenth season within the NHL — all with the Bruins.

Brad Marchand #63 of the Boston Bruins looks on during the third period against the Washington Capitals at TD Garden on April 11, 2023 in Boston, Massachusetts. The Bruins defeat the Capitals 5-2, setting the new NHL record for most points in a single season with 133.
Brad Marchand would be the twenty first captain in Bruins historical past. Maddie Meyer / Getty

The Boston Bruins have a brand new captain, and the selection shouldn’t come as a lot of a shock.

In a video posted on Wednesday morning, the Bruins introduced Brad Marchand because the twenty seventh captain in franchise historical past, with the 35-year-old ahead sporting a brand new “C” stitched on his new sweater.

“I’m extraordinarily pleased with Brad and the hockey participant he has develop into,” stated Boston Bruins CEO Charlie Jacobs. “Brad has been a Bruin for over 15 years and had the chance to be taught from nice leaders in Zdeno Chara and Patrice Bergeron. He’s prepared for this chance and our complete crew will be taught from his aggressive nature and tenacity. I’m assured he’ll signify our group with coronary heart and grit.”  

Marchand will step into the management position vacated by his longtime buddy and linemate Patrice Bergeron, who donned the “C” from 2020-23 earlier than his retirement again in July.

Previous Bruins Captains embrace Patrice Bergeron (2021-23), Zdeno Chara (2006-20), Joe Thornton (2002-05), Jason Allison (2000-01), Ray Bourque (1985-2000), Rick Middleton (1985-88), Terry O’Reilly (1983-85), Wayne Cashman (1977-83), Johnny Bucyk (1966-67 and 1973-77), Leo Boivin (1963-66), Don McKenney (1961-63), Ferny Flaman (1955-61), Ed Sandford (1954-55), Milt Schmidt (1947-54), Bobby Bauer (1946-47), John Crawford (1945-46), Invoice Cowley (1944-45), Ralph ‘Cooney’ Weiland (1937-39), Pink Beattie (1936-37), Eddie Shore (1935-36), Nels Stewart (1934-35), Marty Barry (1933-34), Aubrey ‘Dit’ Clapper (1932-33 and 1939-44), George Owen (1931-32), Lionel Hitchman (1928-31) and Sprague Cleghorn (1925-28). 

Marchand has spent each season of his 14-year NHL profession with Boston, scoring 372 targets and posting 862 factors over 947 video games. Marchand is already a fixture in lots of Bruins document books, together with:

Video games Performed: eighth – 947
Objectives Scored: sixth – 372
Assists: ninth – 490
Factors: seventh – 862
Penalty Minutes: tenth – 973
Shorthanded Objectives: 1st – 33
Sport-Successful Objectives: 4th – 71
Playoff Factors: T2nd – 128

Boston had no scarcity of legitimate candidates to tackle the position of captain, particularly with youthful gamers in place like Charlie McAvoy, David Pastrnak, and Brandon Carlo.

However because the Bruins begin to forge a brand new chapter following the retirement of so many franchise fixtures, Marchand stands as Boston’s longest-tenured participant and one of many few hyperlinks remaining to the 2011 Stanley Cup championship roster.

Even along with his checkered previous stuffed with suspensions and different run-ins with the league workplace, Marchand has made vital strides over the previous couple of seasons to shake away from his label as a pest and set up himself as a pacesetter in Boston’s dressing room.

Earlier this month, Marchand famous that Boston’s management in 2023-24 would require a collective effort, quite than only one new captain taking up the position.

“What the fellows previously have accomplished is that they did it as a gaggle,” Marchand stated. “They have been so good at bringing a gaggle of fellows collectively, having everybody imagine the identical purpose, having a typical purpose collectively and believing in it. … There’s no crew in any sport that may have one man dictate what a crew does, but it surely’s how they’re in a position to carry a gaggle collectively. And once more, that’s what our captains previously have accomplished and our management teams previously have accomplished, is that they’ve been in a position to lead by numbers and energy in numbers.

“After we had Bergy and [Zdeno Chara], we had two captains for some time and that simply bleeds by means of the lineup. With Bergy … everybody had a ton of respect for him. So everybody would observe what he did and what he stated, however he introduced numerous guys in collectively and gave them numerous accountability and allowed them to really feel like they’d a voice and that occurred once more by means of the lineup.

“So we’re gonna have to try this once more this yr. You’re not going to exchange guys like that within the room. However collectively as a gaggle, we simply have to return collectively and discover out what our targets are, what our beliefs are for this season and construct on that collectively.”