Wednesday night will see two franchises in transition take the ice at TD Garden.
On one end, take the Chicago Blackhawks. Still just at the start of their rebuild on the heels of their three-championship dynasty of the 2010s, Chicago hoped to kick things into gear quicker than expected with the Next Big Thing, Connor Bedard, now at the helm of a still-forming core.
The Blackhawks began the Bedard Era on Tuesday, coming back from a 2-0 deficit in Pittsburgh and handing Sidney Crosby and the Penguins a 4-2 loss on home ice. Save for not finding the back of the net, the teenage starlet played his part in the third-period offensive flurry, finishing the night with an assist on the Hawks' first goal, five shots, 11 attempts, and the best expected-goals ratio (63.3%) of any of his teammates in 21:29 of ice time.
On the other end, take the Bruins. Not only are the B's looking to prevent the latest young phenom from scoring his first career goal against them (Crosby, Mario Lemieux and most recently, Mitch Marner, are among stars of past and present to notch their firsts versus Boston that come to mind), but the Black and Gold are also set to begin a new era of their own as the centennial season festivities commence.
As the book closes on the first 100 years of Bruins hockey with the 2023-24 season, the groundwork for the next century will start being laid. Gone is the core of Patrice Bergeron, David Krejci and Zdeno Chara, leaving Brad Marchand as the torchbearer. Behind No. 63, it's up to the new budding core of Charlie McAvoy, David Pastrnak, Brandon Carlo, Hampus Lindholm, Charlie Coyle and even Pavel Zacha and Jake DeBrusk to leave their own indelible mark on the course of the franchise.
“This next chapter in Bruins history is going to be written by us,” McAvoy told reporters at media day at TD Garden on Monday. "We all have something to prove. That’s me, that’s Pasta, that’s Brando and that’s Lindy. None of us have won. Been right there. We’ve gone as far as you can go. We have some experience, but what is our legacy going to be? I think that’s something I’m trying to internalize.
"I’ve got a lot of time left here that I’m extremely grateful for. We have to be building something good, and I think that’s what we’re doing.”
After Bergeron's retirement, Marchand was the clear and easy choice to don the 'C' on his sweater. He is under contract for one more season after this one, which will bring him to age 37. His future beyond that is anyone's guess.
No matter how long Marchand holds the captaincy, it'll be up to the next wave to wave to establish themselves as leaders in the room. His potential successors, McAvoy and Pastrnak in particular, must be up to the task.
"Marchy has been part of that core for a while. You've seen Charlie [McAvoy] and Pasta start to get exposed to that, but now it's their team," Jim Montgomery said Monday. "That's exciting for them. They've learned under great players and leaders. I think there are other players to support them now, whether that's Lindholm and Carlo on the backend, and you have up front Coyle and Zacha. Those kinds of players that are ready to be. This is their team now. I think you're going to start seeing that excitement come out Wednesday night.”
Like his predecessors, Marchand has his own unique style of leadership. Bergeron and Chara commanded the room, and it made Montgomery and Bruce Cassidy's jobs that much easier. Marchand got a taste of that when he stepped up in Bergeron's absence during the first round of the 2023 playoffs, and while vocal, he mainly lets his work ethic on the ice and in the gym do his talking for him, setting the tone and dragging others into the fight.
It'll be up to the McAvoys, Pastrnaks and Carlos of the world to continue to find their voices and their styles.
“They’ve all done it in different ways. That’s probably the biggest thing, is there’s no one-size-fits-all for being a leader," McAvoy said of what he's learned from previous leadership groups. "You’ve seen Zee have a certain style, Krech have a different style, David Backes a different style, [Nick] Foligno, Bergy obviously. All these people do it in different ways. You have to do it organically. You have to just come as who you are every day. I’m getting older and trying to realize who I want to be, really. I think that might be the biggest thing I’ve taken from those guys, the stuff that I love the most about them, that everybody does... they’re all gentlemen. They’re all good guys. They treat everybody the same way. Those are probably the biggest things I want to take from them and carry forward.”
(Fred Kfoury III/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
Very much ingrained in onset of this new era will be a pair of rookie centers in 19-year-old Matt Poitras and 22-year-old Johnny Beecher.
After turning heads as one of the "pleasant surprises" the organization and its fans had hoped for at training camp, Poitras now has a heap of expectations on his plate with a side of learning on the fly in a man's league as a slight teenager. The cerebral playmaker passed every test thrown his way in the preseason, but the regular season, where he'll get an additional nine-game trial, is a different beast. His arrival couldn't be better for a franchise that appeared starved for its next top-six stalwart down the middle after years of whiffs when it comes to drafting and developing. Beecher, a 2019 first-round pivot blessed with size and speed, might not have the same expectations as Poitras, but still contends with the status that comes with his draft position.
Pastrnak and McAvoy each know what it's like to be in their shoes, having been asked to play central roles upon their NHL arrivals. They know the trials and tribulations of finding one's way as a young pro.
"I'm ready to take that step and be a leader," Pastrnak said. "We have a lot of young kids, and you know, Bergy was young when he came into the league, and I was young. I know it's going to be hard. There are going to be days when everything is great, but it's also a long season. So, definitely excited for that, and I couldn't feel more ready."
No. 88 is coming off a 60-plus goal season that earned him MVP consideration and another All-Star appearance. He's previously shared the Maurice "Rocket" Richard Trophy as the league's top goal-scorer. McAvoy has established himself in the upper echelon of blue-liners in the game.
The individual success is all well and good, but both lack a common goal, one that Marchand and Milan Lucic achieved in 2011 as well as newcomer Kevin Shattenkirk in 2020.
McAvoy, Pastrnak and the next core have come close – a win away in 2019. Their objective is "very simple":
"It’s a championship," Pastrnak said. "I want to bring the championship back to Boston. This has been my big motivation since I got in this league. I’m starting my 10th season here in Boston, so it’s time.
"That’s definitely the motivation, to win the championship above anything else.”