Charlie McAvoy eager to put "year to forget" behind him and step up as leader for Bruins
Boston Bruins defenseman Charlie McAvoy did not mince words about the 2024-25 season after cleaning out his locker at Warrior Ice Arena on Thursday. The Bruins missed the playoffs for the first time since 2016 after a disappointing 33-39-10 campaign, and the eight-year veteran never wants to feel this way again.
"Not a great year, really, by any stretch," McAvoy told reporters Thursday. "There were certainly some pockets of some good memories, I guess. But overall, really a year to forget with an unfortunate ending on my side."
McAvoy struggled on the ice early in the year, and then had his season end early when he was diagnosed with a staph infection during the 4 Nations Face-Off. He's ready to put 2024-25 in his rearview mirror and focus on the road ahead.
"Honestly, it's all just motivation to not feel like this again. I've never been here and I don't want to be here again," he said of missing the playoffs. "Obviously the struggles I had this year, they're well known. It's unfortunate, but I'm excited to put a close on this chapter and be done with it. Honestly, just to get it behind me and move on from here."
No restrictions for McAvoy this offseason
McAvoy called playing in the 4 Nations Face-Off for Team USA a dream come true, though it ended in a nightmare for the Boston blue liner. He took a painkilling shot for an AC joint sprain in his shoulder after a 6-1 win over Finland on Feb. 13, and was able to play in a 3-1 win over Canada a few days later.
But he woke up in Boston on Feb. 17 with extreme pain in his shoulder and red streaks across his body. He checked into Massachusetts General Hospital where he was diagnosed with a staph infection, which required an irrigation and debridement procedure the following day.
McAvoy ended up missing the final 25 games of Boston's season.
"It's disheartening in every way," he said of the injury. "Then you're watching your friends, your teammates struggle. You're trying to be there to help with that, but you can't. So many things this year were just unfortunate. So there's frustration.
"It cost me my season. It cost me a lot," McAvoy added. "I spent a lot of time emotionally just sitting with it. Because that was the reality of it."
McAvoy said his season felt like two different seasons, and he doesn't really remember much before the injury. He compared the difficult year to running in a race but never being being allowed to cross the finish line.
The good news is the finish line is in sight for the 27-year-old. Though he hasn't been cleared just yet, he won't have any restrictions this offseason.
"I have no limitations on anything, which allows me to have a big summer, which I'm really excited about," he said. "Obviously every year we make the playoffs and this year we didn't, so I have a different offseason. A four-and-a-half month offseason where I can achieve a lot more. I can do a lot more. I can have a much more productive summer than the usual two months to try and get everything done. That's the silver lining I'm taking from this."
McAvoy said that if the Bruins were gearing up for the playoffs, he and the team would be having serious conversations about trying to clear him for action. Instead, he'll have to wait until next fall.
McAvoy ready to step up as a leader
The Bruins traded away team captain Brad Marchand as part of the team's deadline day fire sale, so new leaders will have to emerge for next season. McAvoy said he's ready to take the torch, and sees himself, defenseman Hampus Lindholm, and star forward David Pastrnak as the next leaders of the squad. He is eager to to be part of the core that establishes a new culture for the Bruins, and said those conversations will begin almost immediately.
"That starts very quickly after this, getting together and establishing what we want," he explained. "What our pillars are going to look like, what we want the culture to get back to and how we're going to do it."
It will be a challenge, but it's one McAvoy and Boston's other vets will embrace.
"What an opportunity, what an exciting challenge for us to be the people that will get it back to where it needs to be," he said. "We're all looking at it the same way. It's not going to be easy, but it can be done.
"There's certainly motivation to never be here again. To find ways for us to improve this culture," added McAvoy. "To get back to what it looks like because this isn't a good place to be right now."
