Bourque’s role with Dallas changed with each year spent in the organization. He went from winning the AHL’s MVP award and leading the league in points (26g-51a-77pts) in 2023-24 to a fourth-line forward in the NHL, playing mainly bottom-six minutes with some time on the penalty kill. Still, he progressed, earning a bigger job as other players left. 

Bourque has competed in 10 Stanley Cup playoff games over the past three seasons, experiences he says will benefit him this year with the Preds.

“I feel like I’ve been touching a lot of situations in the NHL, even in two years, and it’s going to definitely help me for my third [full] season,” Bourque said. “I have a lot to show, and a lot to improve to become a better player on both ways of the ice.”

Bourque is well aware of the player he wants to be, as well as the team the Preds are building. 

“They have a good mix of younger players and older players,” Bourque said. “Just learning from guys that are superstars and younger players that are already really good [excites me], and having a chance to join a team that is building towards the top, that gets me excited.”

He also knows the player he’s always been – one who thinks the game on a different level. 

“High hockey IQ, for me, it’s when the game slows down,” Bourque said. “I’m a guy that I’ve been better at playing with speed and playing a faster game, but at the end [of the day], I think I’m [somebody] that plays with poise and likes to slow down the play…finding small little areas where we can make a play.” 

Composure and playmaking are just some traits that make up Bourque’s style of play, which fits right in with the Preds, according to MacFarland.

MacFarland also sees Bourque as a winner — one of several that have been added to the Preds roster as of late. 

“Some of the players that we’ve added, Jack Drury and Mavrik Bourque, and Ross Colton, they’ve seen what winning looks like, and they can certainly impart some things to our young guys,” MacFarland said July 1. “That’s what we want them to do.”

Bourque knows what his role will be once the puck drops this fall in Nashville, and he can’t wait to begin the next chapter of his career, with that work ethic on full display.

“When they traded for me, they told me what kind of role I was going to get,” Bourque said. “I’ve got to show up and be ready for that role, and I’ve got to deliver. I’ve just got to show up ready, and I think if I show what I got and do what I believe I can do I will have a chance to be in a good spot.”