Lady luck doesn’t seem to be all that impressed with the Boston Bruins. Calder candidate, Charlie McAvoy, will be out for at least a month with an MCL sprain.
Bruce Cassidy on McAvoy’s injury:
— Boston Bruins (@NHLBruins) March 6, 2018
“Could have been worse obviously....We’ll be without Charlie for a little bit, we have lots of depth and he will be back...Hopefully he heals quick and keeps his conditioning up.”
Charlie McAvoy will be reassessed in four weeks and with the playoffs just around the corner for the Boston Bruins, the news is rather concerning. But, depending on your own personal outlook it can be seen as a both a positive and a negative. For the positive thinkers amongst you, this injury occurring now is better than it happening in say 2-3 weeks time. For the negative, there is a possibility that McAvoy misses the start of the playoffs. However, Cassidy’s comments suggest it’ll be the four weeks and no more.
The twenty-year-old has been prolific in his rookie season. Registering 32 points in 59 outings (seven goals, 25 assists). McAvoy has logged 1051:55 minutes which is just 90 minutes behind team minute-eater Zdeno Chara.
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The Long Beach, New York native has been a mainstay on the Bruins blue-line. His Corsi For percentage combined with the minutes he has played is eye-catching. Out of the Bruins regular top-four defesenman McAvoy leads with a 55.73 CF%, but even more impressive is his goals for percentage at 5-on-5. McAvoy has a 64.63 GF% which is six percent higher than Torey Krug on the top-four.
Unless you’ve been living under a rock for the entirety of the season thus far, it’s been quite clear that McAvoy is crucial to the Bruins core. From the net out Rask, McAvoy and Bergeron are Boston’s most important players. Incidentally, all three players are currently out of the lineup. McAvoy and Chara have presented themselves as one of the most formidable d-pairings in the NHL, combining Chara’s size with McAvoy’s puck movement.
The Bruins have the depth to spread out the minutes that McAvoy hoovered up, but his impact will be irreplaceable.