BOSTON -- With the Bruins without a captain for the remainder of the season after they traded Brad Marchand to the Florida Panthers, they must now look to other players for leadership.
Boston also lost alternate captains Brandon Carlo and Charlie Coyle, who were traded to the Toronto Maple Leafs and the Colorado Avalanche, respectively.
Interim coach Joe Sacco said while his role won't change given he's pretty involved on a day-to-day basis, he is going to expect more players to step up.
"We do have to obviously find and get some more leadership from guys now that are in our room, that are capable of it, that maybe didn't have that role before," he said after Monday's practice. "With losing a great leader in Marshy and real good leaders too in Charlie and Brandon as well, it's up to everybody to step it up. And we're going to find some more guys too, individually, that can come in and help that leadership group as well."
The Bruins have veterans in David Pastrnak and Charlie McAvoy -- the latter of which remains sidelined with a shoulder injury -- and also have Elias Lindholm and Hampus Lindholm, though the defenseman will likely miss the remainder of the season with a broken patellar.
"I've been around for some time, around the league for quite some time," Elias Lindholm said. "Obviously, (I can) take some more accountability in the locker room. Definitely some room for me to be more vocal."
For Pastrnak, who's an alternate captain and in his 11th season in Boston, he's not going to change just because his leadership role is evolving.
"I will never change, no matter if I play NHL or if I'm still the 10-year old kid playing hockey," he said." For me, I don't want to change because of the position I'm in, how much money I make or stuff like that. So just being myself is one of most important things in life for me."