The ice is ready, and preseason hockey will be played this month. The Boston Bruins held their captains practice at Warrior Arena. It was bittersweet to see the leaders of this team take the ice for the first time since the end of the 2024-25 season. They got the opportunity to speak to the media afterwards, and the core leaders are setting the tone for the season right from the get-go.
Setting the Tone Early
This is the first time in over a decade that the expectations aren’t high for the Bruins. After years of being perennial Stanley Cup contenders in the Eastern Conference, they are now in uncharted waters. They aren’t rebuilding per se, but have entered a retool period. The Bruins finished with the fifth-worst record during the regular season in 2024-25 (33-39-10) and finished in the basement of the Atlantic Division. Not many in the hockey world are expecting much, but the Bruins’ leaders are setting the tone right away. The player they’ll turn to the most and should be the next captain of this illustrious franchise is David Pastrnak.
Pastrnak’s Quotes Echo Loudly
It is officially a new era for the Bruins. Not because of the retool period they’ll undergo, but nobody from their 2011 Stanley Cup championship team is in the picture anymore. It is a new core with Pastrnak leading the way. As it should be. It’s easy to say the right things. Although with this leadership group, you can see them putting their money where their mouths are. Pastrnak shed light on the Bruins and what their compete level should be and is going to be this season.
“Expectations are always the same here. You play for an Original Six, they are always high and they always will be…we won’t accept what happened last year. The team that’s going to dress in October is going to be very competitive.”
Even though the outside world doesn’t have the highest expectations for the Bruins, Pastrnak makes it clear this team has expectations. The Bruins are an Original Six franchise and a proud one at that. Coming in with a chip on their shoulder is exactly what they should have. Because last season was ugly.
The Bruins as a team underperformed drastically. They struggled to score goals, ranking 27th in the league, and the power play was abysmal with a 15.2% success rate. Very rarely last season did you see the Bruins do the right things. Defensive coverage was lagging, and offensively, they didn’t have the firepower to overcome those deficiencies.
Talent on the roster isn’t a strong suit, but they’ll be leaning heavily on Pastrnak and the rest of that core. With this type of attitude and leadership, the Bruins could use this fuel to play beyond what everyone expects.
The Bruins Could Surprise the League
Despite the lack of moves this summer, the Bruins could shock the world. They still have a core in place that can make an impact on this roster. Morgan Geekie is coming off a 30-goal season, and Pavel Zacha has had 40-plus points since becoming a member of this Bruins team.
Related: 3 Bruins Players That Need to Have Bounce Back Seasons
Health is also something that will play a major factor. Defensemen Charlie McAvoy and Hampus Lindholm are both returning from key injuries, and getting two of your top four defensemen back goes a long way. Not to mention, if goaltender Jeremy Swayman can return to form and look like he did at the World Championship, this team will take a step forward. In addition, they are under a new head coach in Marco Sturm. Change is coming, and it’s going to be good change.
The Bruins could surprise us, and that’s just by simply improving in the areas they were weak in last season. Improving the power play and their finishing ability will help win games. Also, if this team comes in and competes night in and night out and gives it their very best, that’ll be a delight to see. And we will get to see what kind of leadership this core is made of. They need to take what they learned from Zdeno Chara and Patrice Bergeron and apply it. It is something McAvoy touched on at captains practice.
“You don’t want to change too much of who you are. All of us have been selected to be part of this leadership group because of who we are…but that doesn’t mean we can’t become better versions of ourselves, better hockey players, better people.”
New leadership. New era. It’s go time.
Exciting Times for the 2025-26 Bruins
It’ll be good to see Bruins hockey again. There’s no telling where they will finish at the end of the season, but this leadership group setting the tone and establishing the new culture is going to be important for this new era. They have a chip on their shoulder and something to prove. Now it’s time to go do it. They could surprise the hockey world by being better than expected.
