The Boston Bruins have gone without a captain since trading Brad Marchand to Florida in 2025, and general manager Don Sweeney has been in no rush to name the successor. Tottenham Hotspur may have done it for him.
Sweeney and head coach Marco Sturm confirmed at the start of training camp that the team would have a captain for 2026-27, but declined to say who, promising only that it would come before the season opener against the New York Rangers on September 29. Sweeney said the club wanted to handle the announcement “the right way.”
David Pastrnak on the leak
Then, on Tuesday, the English club’s official X account posted about midfielder Xavi Simons, who has been rehabbing a knee injury in Boston.
“While in Boston, Xavi Simons has been working hard at the training facility of NHL team the Boston Bruins, exchanged jerseys with captain David Pastrnak and linked up with Celtics star Jayson Tatum,” the post read.
The post disappeared shortly afterward with no explanation from either Tottenham or Simons.
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Before anyone treats it as confirmed, there are reasons for caution. As the Boston Globe pointed out, the photo attached to the post showed David Pastrnak holding a plain black Bruins sweater with no captain’s C on it, and Tottenham’s own website referred to him simply as a “Boston Bruins ice hockey legend” rather than captain. Pastrnak also wore an alternate captain’s A in Tuesday’s exhibition game against the Flyers.
Pastrnak himself was unbothered when asked about it.
“I had a couple of texts,” he said, per the Boston Globe. “You know, it’s a football team, so I don’t think you guys should worry about the football team.”
Bruins without a ‘C’
Even if Tottenham jumped the gun, the guess isn’t exactly a wild one. Pastrnak has been in Boston since being drafted 25th overall in 2014, served as an alternate captain alongside Charlie McAvoy during Marchand’s captaincy, and became one of the loudest voices in the room once Marchand left.
McAvoy has said publicly that he believes Pastrnak deserves the C. The 30-year-old is also coming off his fourth consecutive 100-point season, having put up 100 points in 77 games last year including a career-best 71 assists.
Whoever gets it will become the 28th captain in franchise history, following a list that includes Ray Bourque, Johnny Bucyk, Zdeno Chara and Patrice Bergeron. As 98.5 The Sports Hub noted, if the Bruins suddenly rush out an announcement before puck drop, it will say plenty about how badly the post caught them off guard.
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