Boston Bruins defenseman Charlie McAvoy made a comment on Tuesday after morning skate that will likely cause some fans to stop and take a second to absorb it. Everyone knows how tough the 2024-25 season was, and with that came an exodus of some long-time Bruins, namely Brad Marchand, Charlie Coyle, Brandon Carlo, and Trent Frederic.
The season couldn't have been too fun for the players. It was one of the worst seasons in a long time for the organization, one that started with the Jeremy Swayman holdout and ended with a roster that more closely resembled an AHL lineup. Regardless of the culture, not many players would've had too much fun playing in that environment.
Charlie McAvoy on this year being more fun than last year: “I don't want to take a shot at last year or anything, because there's a lot of guys that aren't here anymore that I love deeply, but I think the chemistry this year, it feels a little different.” pic.twitter.com/GOTHU2jEec
— Scott McLaughlin (@smclaughlin9) December 16, 2025
Fans are going to take the comments as a perceived slight towards the players who left, even with McAvoy's caveat that it had nothing to do with them. Some might even take it as some kind of diss towards Brad Marchand's leadership as captain or Jim Montgomery/Joe Sacco's tenure as head coach.
Bruins fans shouldn't read too much into Charlie McAvoy's recent comments
The truth is that you can summarize McAvoy's comments quite easily without making it about the players who are no longer there. Winning is fun, and this year's team is doing much more winning than the team in 2024-25. If this overachieving roster crumbles in the second half of the season, there's a great chance that McAvoy or anyone else will be more reluctant to talk about how much fun they are having or how much chemistry there is in the locker room.
"“I don't want to take a shot at last year or anything, because there's a lot of guys that aren't here anymore that I love deeply, but I think the chemistry this year, it feels a little different.”"Charlie McAvoy
The team is playing more for each other this year than last. Part of the reason could be that they trust Marco Sturm's system more than the previous one, or that the roster is now better-suited to the style the coach is preaching. It also helps to have more of a player's-coach leading the way. Anything else is just a product of winning, and not an indictment of the past leadership group.