Bruins to start 2025-26 season without captain
An Original Six team will go without an on-ice leader to start the upcoming season.
When speaking to the media on Tuesday, Boston Bruins general manager Don Sweeney stated that the team will begin the 2025-26 campaign without a captain.
Sweeney says the Bruins aren’t ruling out finding someone to wear the ‘C’ in the near future, but he wants it to happen organically.
“I think somebody will eventually emerge as the guy that should be the next captain,” Sweeey said. “It comes with a lot of responsibility…I’d like to see a little more natural progression of it. … [When] one does it without everyone on the same page, it can become awkward.”
Sweeney says that he’s going to let new head coach Maro Sturm get settled in before diving into finding a new captain.
“I think we move forward with the leadership that has been established and let Marco have his own communication with them, and let [the players] have communication with themselves in terms of what direction they want to take this, and who emerges as the leader and next captain of the Boston Bruins.”
It will mark the first time the Bruins will go without a captain for an extended period of time since the 2005-06 season, when Boston didn’t have someone wearing the ‘C’ after trading then-captain Joe Thornton to the San Jose Sharks. The last time the B’s went captain-less for an entire season was 2001-02, the year before Thornton was named captain.
The Bruins lost their captain at last year’s trade deadline, when Sweeney traded Brad Marchand to their Atlantic Division rivals, the Florida Panthers. The move paid off for the latter, as Marchand was an essential piece in helping the Panthers win a second straight Stanley Cup.
Marchand took over the captaincy after former captain Patrice Bergeron retired after the 2022-23 season. Bergeron served as captain for three seasons after Zdeno Chara, who had been captain since 2006, signed with the Washington Capitals prior to the 2021 campaign.
The Bruins are in the midst of a rebuild, despite having talented players like David Pastrnak, Charlie McAvoy and Jeremy Swayman in the fold. The team finished tied for the worst record in the Eastern Conference, with their 33 wins marking the fewest in a full season since the 2005-06 season.
Texans Planning Bigger Role for Nick Chubb
Expect to see some more Nick Chubb in the Houston Texans' offense after a solid Week 1 showing.
Following Houston's season opener loss vs. the LA Rams, 9-14, Texans head coach DeMeco Ryans was still impressed by what he saw from Chubb in his debut since signing in June. In all, Chubb finished with 13 carries for 60 yards on the ground, averaging 4.6 yards a carry and leading the way in touches throughout the running back room.
And moving forward into the year, Ryans says he wants to lean on Chubb a bit more in the backfield.
"I think Chubb ran the ball really well," Ryans said in an interview with Texans Radio. "We tried to mix it up with the backs– got Woody some touches, Dameon [Pierce]– we're going to try to lean in with Chubb a little bit more."
"He deserves it. He’s shown that he continues to get better as the game went on. You saw him running stronger, finishing plays in a physical manner. So, we've got to get him going a little bit more, and I think he can really help us."
Chubb has seemingly made a super strong impression in the Texans' building since arriving on his one-year, $5 million deal in the offseason, and without Joe Mixon in the fold as he deals with a foot injury that has placed him on the Injured Reserve for at least the first four weeks of the year, the door has opened for Chubb to have some major responsibility in this scoring unit.
Chubb sits in the Texans' running back room alongside veteran Dameon Pierce, rookie Woody Marks, and team captain Dare Ogunbowale to share the workload with– certainly a group that faced a fair share of questions before the season, of just how the responsibilities would be divided in the backfield.
But, as Chubb continues to prove he's healthy from last season and the most productive guy in the room, Ryans clearly wants to get the ball in his hands in the run game while they deal with Mixon's absence– however long that may be– and bank on his physicality and consistent improvements to be a driving force in their work on the ground.
Chubb has reportedly been consistent and hard-working for the Texans dating back to training camp, has clear respect in the locker room from teammates and the coaching staff, and of course, has a proven track record in the league of being one of the better runners of the football in recent history while at his peak production.
That doesn't mean you won't see guys like Pierce, Marks, and Ogunbowale get some occasional reps their way as well, but if Ryans' comments prove true, we could very well be looking at the start of Chubb being a real bellcow in Houston.
