Cam Neely Addresses Bruins’ Captaincy After Patrice Bergeron Retires

Patrice Bergeron’s NHL retirement leaves the Bruins with multiple voids to fill.

Boston will have to implement a new first-line center, a slot Bergeron masterfully manned for the back nine of his lengthy tenure with the Black and Gold. The B’s also will have to find ways to replace what Bergeron brought to the club’s defensive effort, power play and penalty kill.

But perhaps the question mark Bruins fans care most about in wake of Bergeron’s retirement is the franchise’s next captain. The future Hall of Fame center wore the “C’ on his sweater for three seasons in Boston following Zdeno Chara’s 14-year run in the role. The organization has plenty of time to pick its next captain, and it sounds like it will take advantage of that luxury.

“Cam Neely said that decisions haven’t really started about who will be the next captain of the Bruins,” Boston.com’s Conor Ryan tweeted Wednesday.

Of course, a handful of names immediately come to mind when you think about who could assume the Bruins’ captaincy. Brad Marchand and Charlie McAvoy probably are the frontrunners, but David Pastrnak and Charlie Coyle could be contenders as well.

But regardless of who becomes the next play to don the “C” for the B’s, they’ll have big shoes to fill, to say the very least.