After three years of Patrice Bergeron wearing the 'C,' the Boston Bruins named 35-year-old winger Brad Marchand as the franchise's 21st team captain
BRIGHTON, Mass. – The Boston Bruins named Brad Marchand their new team captain on Wednesday. He becomes the captain as the franchise enters its centennial season.
Marchand replaces Patrice Bergeron, who wore the ‘C’ for three seasons before retiring in July.
The 35-year-old winger scored 67 points in 73 games last season, adding on four goals and six assists in seven playoff games against the Florida Panthers before the Bruins record-breaking season was cut short.
He missed the first nine games of 2022-23 while recovering from offseason double hip surgery, and expressed he didn’t feel back to 100 percent for most of the season. This summer, it was different.
“It felt more normal through the summer and the offseason,” Marchand said on Sept. 8. “I had a little bit of trouble through the middle of the summer, but it’s kind of back on track now and really looking forward to just kind of getting through a normal summer here and get back on our way.”
While Marchand will have the ‘C’ on his uniform, he said it will take a group effort to bring leadership to the team.
“It’s a big honor to be in the leadership group in this organization,” Marchand said. “When you lose ‘Bergy’ and ‘Krej’ [David Krejci], the leadership [is going to] come from a group, not from one certain guy.”