Bruins hoping McAvoy can heal quickly, return to key role

BOSTON -- One year ago, Charlie McAvoy was a 19-year-old sophomore at Boston University, preparing for the Hockey East Tournament. There was an NHL future ahead of him, but it had yet to be determined when that would start.
Now McAvoy, a 20-year-old NHL rookie, has become a key piece of the Boston Bruins defense, a minutes-eating, puck-moving cog in their push to the Stanley Cup Playoffs.

He has 32 points (seven goals, 25 assists) in 59 games and averages 22:06 of ice time per game, second on the Bruins to defenseman Zdeno Chara (23:11).
But the Bruins announced Tuesday, ahead of their game against the Detroit Red Wings at TD Garden (7 p.m. ET; NBCSN, SN, TVAS, NESN, NHL.TV), that
McAvoy would be out for at least the next four weeks
with sprained medial collateral ligament in his left knee. The injury was sustained during the first period of the Bruins' 2-1 overtime win against the Montreal Canadiens on Saturday. McAvoy left after 37 seconds.
He'll be re-evaluated in four weeks, and it's possible he will be out longer. If he does return in four weeks, it would be no sooner than against the Tampa Bay Lightning at Amalie Arena on April 3, one week ahead of the start of the playoffs.
"I'm hoping he's a fast healer, obviously," Bruins coach Bruce Cassidy said. "But if it ends up being longer, then we're going to have to make do, I guess is the simplest answer. Assuming it's on that timeline, he will have a little bit of time to get ready before playoffs. Again, that's still a stretch away. … We'll see when Charlie comes back, how important are the games vs. how important is it that he gets back in the lineup."

The Bruins have been without McAvoy before this season. He missed four games around the 2018 NHL All-Star Game after undergoing surgery to repair an abnormal heart rhythm, and the Bruins went 3-1-0 against the New Jersey Devils, Ottawa Senators, Anaheim Ducks and St. Louis Blues.
For now, the Bruins will revert to some pairings they've used in the past, including during that four-game stretch, starting with moving Brandon Carlo up to play with Chara. As a rookie Carlo spent most of last season in that role, and excelled, though his play has dropped off during his second season.
Carlo has a different skill set than McAvoy. He is more of a stay-at-home defenseman and doesn't have the ability to make the kind of passes and play the same offensive role as McAvoy.
The other pairs Tuesday will be Matt Grzelcyk and Kevan Miller, and Nick Holden and Torey Krug, with left-shot Holden playing on the right side.
It helps that the Bruins have depth, enough that Adam McQuaid will be scratched against the Red Wings because of the emergence of Grzelcyk and Holden, who was acquired in a trade with the New York Rangers on Feb. 20.
"Just the rest of the guys as a whole [need] to be ready to play a few more minutes, but at the same time don't get away from what we've been doing successfully this whole year," Grzelcyk said. "Keep it simple. But if we can create a four-man attack it would be huge, especially without Charlie in the lineup."

Holden will get more power-play time, as he did against the Canadiens with McAvoy out. Krug also will be leaned on for extra minutes on the man-advantage, extending his shifts, as well as Grzelcyk, and Danton Heinen could get on the power play if the Bruins opt to use four forwards.
It's ultimately about not asking one player to replace McAvoy. It would be impossible.
But he's not the only one missing.
Center Patrice Bergeron is out because of a fractured right foot sustained Feb. 24 and will be re-evaluated in a week. Goaltender Tuukka Rask has a lower-body injury and will miss his second straight game Tuesday.
Cassidy said Rask skated Tuesday but it's unknown if he'll be available to back up Anton Khudobin or if the Bruins will call up a goaltender from Providence of the American Hockey League.
That isn't a great situation heading into the final month of the season.
"Clearly [Bergeron] knows what to expect coming out of it," Cassidy said, of returning after his injury. "Probably we'll get him to talk to Charlie about what to do between now and then so that you don't drop off. It's natural when you don't play this time of year, especially the intensity goes up, you're going to lose a little bit of your edge. So he's got to find a way to keep his conditioning and keep mentally sharp during this stretch of time."
There potentially are some bright spots. The Bruins are second in the Atlantic Division, two points ahead of the third-place Maple Leafs and 18 points ahead of the fourth-place Florida Panthers, so there is some breathing room in the playoff chase.
That allowed Cassidy to take a glass-half-full view of the injury situation. He talked about how the rest McAvoy will get should help keep him fresh for the playoffs, how it allows other players to try different roles, that McAvoy already has been through the intensity of the playoffs, where he made his NHL debut last season.
"I think he's been through that experience," Cassidy said. "Not like [Bergeron] has by any means, but he has been through it once. So he knows the value of playing at that time of the year. So I think that does help him. And it allows us a little comfort that if he doesn't get a lot of time before and he is ready just come playoff time, that he has been through it. He has that going for him."
There are five weeks and 19 games to go before the playoffs begin. The Bruins hope McAvoy is a fast healer, because they are a worse team without him.
"Obviously," Grzelcyk said, "we're going to miss him."