Brad Marchand was named captain of the Boston Bruins on Wednesday.
The 35-year-old forward replaces Patrice Bergeron, who retired from the NHL on July 25 after playing his entire 19-season NHL career for the Bruins.
“I am extremely proud of Brad and the hockey player he has become,” Bruins CEO Charlie Jacobs said in a statement. “Brad has been a Bruin for over 15 years and has had the opportunity to learn from great leaders in Zdeno Chara and Patrice Bergeron. He is ready for this opportunity, and our whole team will learn from his competitive nature and tenacity. I am confident he will represent our organization with heart and grit.”
Marchand is the 27th captain in Bruins history, a list that includes seven Hockey Hall of Famers and seven players whose numbers are retired. He’s played all 15 seasons of his NHL career for Boston and is eighth in Bruins history in games played (947), fourth in game-winning goals (71), sixth in goals (372), ninth in assists (490), and seventh in points (862). The 2011 Stanley Cup champion is fifth in Stanley Cup Playoff games played (146), second in goals (53), fourth in assists (75), and second in points (128).
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Selected by the Bruins in the third round (No. 71) of the 2006 NHL Draft, Marchand is a five-time 30-goal scorer. His 67 points last season were second on the Bruins behind David Pastrnak’s 113, and his plus-290 rating is first among active NHL players.
“You don’t realize how much goes into being a captain,” Marchand said last season. “Not just our captain, but there’s a captain on every team. But there are only a few that are at that elite level that will go down in the history of sports, and ‘Bergy’ is one of them. The amount of effort and time that he puts into making sure that every single guy every day is in the right head space and feeling good about themselves, he’s always trying to find ways to bring the group closer together and allow us to bond and build chemistry.
“He’s always trying to find a way to improve the team, make sure that nothing is missed for the group to allow us to have success. You don’t realize it until you see it. He’s talked to me multiple times about different situations. I’m like, ‘Dude, how do you even see this?’ I thought everything was good. He’s like, ‘I think we can improve this or that.’ That’s the type of leadership that doesn’t happen overnight. It’s a gift.”
Marchand is the fourth player to be named captain this month, joining Quinn Hughes of the Vancouver Canucks (Sept. 11), Adam Lowry of the Winnipeg Jets (Sept. 12), and Brayden Schenn of the St. Louis Blues (Sept. 19).
Six NHL teams are without a captain: the Anaheim Ducks, Arizona Coyotes, Calgary Flames, Chicago Blackhawks, Philadelphia Flyers, and Seattle Kraken.
Source: nhl.com
