$90,000,000 Boston Bruins star makes feelings crystal clear about taking over captaincy after Brad Marchand's shocking trade

The Boston Bruins traded Brad Marchand to the Florida Panthers on Friday. Boston received a conditional second-round pick in return and retained half of his salary. Marchand, who was in his second season as captain, had 47 points in 61 games this season. He was named the Bruins captain after Patrice Bergeron's retirement in 2023.

With Brad Marchand gone, many wonder who will be the next Bruins captain. David Pastrnak, the Bruins' leading scorer this season, addressed this after the team practice on Monday.

"I don’t think about it, honestly," Pastrnak said. "I have the ‘A,’ and I haven’t changed a bit. Obviously, the role changes a little bit—you lead more—but you just try to stay yourself. Right now, we have 17 games left, and that’s my main focus, to build on those two games. We played pretty good hockey in the last two, and that has to be our standard for the rest of the season and see where it takes us."

David Pastrnak, who is signed on an 8-year, $90,000,000 contract, is playing his 11th season with the Boston Bruins. He was drafted 25th overall in 2014. This season, he has 32 goals and 47 assists in 65 games. He has scored over 110 points in each of the last two seasons. In 2022-23, he had a career-high 61 goals.

Over his career, he has played 739 games, scoring 380 goals and 426 assists for 806 points. He is currently one of the NHL’s top right wingers.

The Bruins have a 29-28-8 record and rank seventh in the Atlantic Division. Their offense struggles, scoring 2.71 goals per game and they allow 3.12 goals per game, hurting their playoff chances. With 66 points, they need a strong finish and other teams to lose to make the playoffs until then their chances remain low.

Boston Bruins' other moves apart from moving Brad Marchand

Apart from Brad Marchand the Boston Bruins have traded forward Charlie Coyle to the Colorado Avalanche, D-man Brandon Carlo to the Maple Leafs, forward Trent Frederic to the Edmonton Oilers, and forward Justin Brazeau to the Minnesota Wild.

".... on the levels of friendships and kind of human nature, obviously, it’s been tough. obviously, lost lots of friends in the room and, beautiful families that are (now) on the move." Pastrnak said. "Professionally, you have to flip the page, and you know that there is a group you kind of have to lead. And so that’s my focus now."

The team has not announced its next captain after Brad Marchand's trade but Pastrnak’s experience makes him a strong candidate.