Charlie McAvoy is in a good place physically and mentally. That much was clear when he was all smiles coming off the sheet at Warrior Ice Arena on Tuesday.
But the last time we spoke with the Bruins’ top defenseman, that wasn’t the case. It was on break-up day in April and, for the first time in his pro career, the B’s had not made the playoffs. Weighing even more heavily on his mind was the shoulder injury and infection he had suffered during the Four Nations tournament that cost him the rest of the season. Physically, he was just about healed – he said if the B’s had made the playoffs, he would have played – but he was still grappling with how he got the dangerous infection that put him in the hospital and helped to end his season.
“That was probably a great day to just sort of let it all out and just turn the page. That pretty much served as a hard stop to ‘24-25,” said McAvoy. “I took some time off, two weeks to just be, and spend some time with the baby (Rhys). Then, everything was ‘how are we going to get better? How are we going to get healthy? How are we going to get to where I know I can be going into this year?’ And then since then, it’s just been all excitement, hitting a lot of marks and accomplishing a lot off the ice and now I’m starting to ramp up more on the ice, so I feel great. And mentally, I’m super-excited about this year.”
With the shoulder injury just about behind him when the offseason began, he’s been able to attack the summer without having to nurse any other bumps and bruises that are usually incurred in a playoff run.
“I wouldn’t say that I’d ever trade for that. I wish we were playing in the playoffs,” he said. “But not experiencing that, conditioning-wise it could be good for me in the long run. I’m just trying to see positives in it.”
McAvoy touched on a number of subjects:
*As of now, it doesn’t sound like there’s going to be anyone wearing the “C”, though he and David Pastrnak will form a sort of two-headed captaincy.
“Going into this year, we’re both going to have A’s. That’s what I know. I don’t think there’s any fire under them to do anything with that. And guess what? That’s totally fine,” said McAvoy. “Me and Pasta are spending the time together, which I’ve found incredible, learning about him a little bit more, about him as a leader. Just what I’ll say on that front is I love that we’re going to be able to take this on together. And regardless of letters, we know that this is our team, me and him. And for however many years we get to be here, it’s going to be us two, along with a lot of other guys, right? But this is our baby now, me and him, and there’s nobody else that I’d rather do it with and I know we’re going to make each other better, on and off the ice.”
*His conversations with Marco Sturm have been less about the X’s and O’s of what the new coach wants and more about the macro vibe of the team and how to bring it together. That was part of the problem last year, even before all the injuries hit. It seemed the turnover of players that occurs each year had finally hit a stage where the new pegs did not fit neatly into the Black and Gold holes like they had in previous years.
“We’ve talked a lot about the group, ideas of how we can make this group come together as quickly as possible. That’s been the biggest thing right now from a leadership perspective, some of the tendencies he has as far as meetings and messaging and stuff like that,” said McAvoy. “That’s been the biggest thing. We’re really focusing on how we can make this team a cohesive group right from the get-go. There’s been a lot of turnover over the last two years. It’s kind of shocking to see that it’s just me and Pasta left from ‘19 (when they went to the Stanley Cup Final). And with all that turnover, you have to work on it. It doesn’t just (automatically) work. So we’ve got to pour some water on that seed and we’ve got to get this group together. We’ve got to learn each other and spend the necessary time it takes to make this a very tight group.”
*Not many observers are bullish on the Bruins.
But while acknowledging the road to potential success promises to be a harder one, McAvoy is excited about the team’s prospects. The additions of high-compete players like Sean Kuraly, Tanner Jeannot and Mikey Eyssimont – as well as Viktor Arvidsson – should bring back a certain sandpaper element to the team.
“You named three guys there that really embody what we could be and I think we’re all thinking the same thing about what kind of team we might have to be,” said McAvoy. “So you get those guys to be a pain in the ass, play fast, play hard. Be that team that no one really wants to play against. We can be a hard out. I think we’ve always been a defensive team. That’s probably been what makes us our best for a while now. We have great goaltending and great defense. Now we have what looks to be physical, probably more on the defensive side of forwards. Still we have a lot of production coming back from that top six. We have offense. We have guys who can score. But if we do have to be that defensive team, then let’s be that team that no one wants to be against. Let’s win ugly games. I’m excited to to see what it’s going to look like and how they want us to play. Right now, the imagination is making me think that we might be the team that’s hard, that’s big, physical and can be annoying.”
*McAvoy has already been named to the U.S. Olympic team. If you thought he might have any hesitance pulling on the red, white and blue jersey again because of what happened to him at the Four Nations, think again.
“There’s none of that,” said McAvoy. “There’s nothing like being able to represent your country on the ice. There’s a certain pride that goes to it. It’s unmatched. You can’t replicate it. I don’t think I’m speaking out of turn, but I think everyone would tell you that. It’s just different. It doesn’t mean that they can’t both be great, playing for the Bruins and playing for Team USA. But they’re just different. They mean two different things. Being an Olympian, what a dream come true, I was speechless. I’ve worked my whole life for a lot of different things and this is one of them.”
*McAvoy didn’t exactly have Oct. 21, the night Brad Marchand returns to the Garden, circled on his calendar as a revenge game. Marchand won his second Cup with the Florida Panthers in June.
“I told him when he came back, I couldn’t be happier for him. If you know Marchy, you know that there are very few people that work as hard as him,” said McAvoy, who considers Marchand one of his best friends. “He’s just so committed to everything on the ice, off ice. He puts his heart into everything that he does, so how can you not root for a guy that? I was thrilled to see him play as well as he did. He looked like old Marchy. He looked like a little kid again. Honestly, it was inspiring to watch. I told him that. He makes me want it even more.”
*McAvoy said he’s been texting with Hampus Lindholm, who is skating back home in Sweden. After Lindholm was lost to a knee injury for the season last November, it became clear how good of a player he is.
“I think it was pretty evident in reflecting on the year, he’s a world class player. He just is,” said McAvoy. “He probably doesn’t get the shine or the notoriety, but he’s a heck of a defenseman. And not having him last year, it was big. He’s a guy who can play top four and, when it comes down to it, he’s a guy that can win you games, because he’s a guy who can make a play to get you that goal or defensively to shut it down. We all know that in here.”
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