Bruins Haven’t Named The Franchise’s New Captain But Have Clear Vision
Patrice Bergeron was one of the most impactful leaders of the Boston Bruins during his legendary 19-year NHL career.
When he decided to hang up the skates in July, fans immediately started to speculate which player would be named as the Bruins’ 21st captain in franchise history.
With training camp starting on Sept. 20, Bruins head coach Jim Montgomery told reporters ahead of the Boston Bruins Foundation’s annual golf tournament at Pinehills Golf Club on Thursday that the vision of the franchise was to have a captain, not a committee of leaders, in place for the centennial season, but they hadn’t reached a decision yet.
“I think we’re trending in the right direction toward having someone be our captain next year,” Montgomery said, per a team-provided video. “… We have enough real good leaders that we could have a captain that can lead us.”
Looking back at some of the players that have donned the “C” for the Bruins — Patrice Bergeron, Zdeno Chara, Ray Bourque, Rick Middleton and Terry O’Reilly — the next player lucky enough to receive the honor of leading the team will have some pretty big shoes to fill.
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So, who will be a good candidate to take on the challenge? Montgomery didn’t name names but provided the characteristics they are looking for.
“Someone that is confident in who they are. Someone that isn’t afraid to put his arm around a teammate and also hold the teammate accountable,” Montgomery said. “Also not afraid to come in my office and hold me accountable to what he believes if I’m doing the right things for the team.
“I think that’s the he’s the go-between between the players and the coaches. And he’s got to be comfortable communicating with everybody and for you guys (the media), being able to be there every day to for you guys to have a source that has a pulse of the team and who’s the leader of our team.”
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Montgomery’s challenge with whichever player is named the next Bruins captain is to ensure they balance what they learned from the previous captains and put their own personal spin on the role.
“It’s them being themselves. Their understanding and pride in being a Bruin,” Montgomery said. “Which e have so many. We have (Milan Lucic) back, that we haven’t even talked about, right? And I think lastly, is just getting comfortable. Everybody’s going to have an adjustment.”
It’s not just the players that will have to get used to a new captain, but also Montgomery himself.
“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 explained. “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 and some you have to maybe you’re a talker.
“With Bergy and I, it was 50-50. I may have to talk more with this person because they’re looking for a little more guidance and maybe Bergeron was because it’s their first time being a captain of the Boston Bruins and that’s just working on your relationship and both of you being open-minded and communicating.”
One factor not to be overlooked is Bergeron was not the only leader the Bruins lost in the offseason.
“I mean, we lost a lot of leadership,” Montgomery noted. “We didn’t just lose Bergy. We lost (David Krejci). We lost (Nick) Foligno. Players that were very important. But everybody’s watched those players, especially Bergy, for years and there’s a lot of players that have worn the Spoked-B for a long time that care about culture, how we compete and how we carry ourselves.”
It’s anyone’s guess who might get the honor, but there are some clear options in the remaining core of players.
