Ahead of his return to the ice after shoulder surgery, check out Charlie McAvoy's biggest plays. 2 minutes later.
Charlie McAvoy will make his season debut in Thursday's game against the Flames after a long recovery from surgery.
The Bruins' top-pairing blueliner, McAvoy, had a shoulder surgery on June 3 and was expected to be out at least six months. Boston coach Jim Montgomery said Wednesday that McAvoy was ahead of schedule and that he would be available for the game.
McAvoy said after Wednesday's practice that he was doing well. We are stacking these boxes up. We are just going one day at a time, and we feel good about where we are. Getting ready to come back.
Montgomery didn't rule out some "mixing and matching" on the back end as needed, but he confirmed that McAvoy and Grzelcyk would be in the top spot. Montgomery is new to the Bruins' bench, but he's familiar with McAvoy's reputation as a game-changing defender.
He scored 10 goals and 56 points in 78 games last year, including 21 points on the power play. Montgomery doesn't see that much of a workload in McAvoy's immediate future, despite the fact that he paced the Bruins in ice time last year.
Montgomery said that they don't need McAvoy to play 24 minutes. He's going to play 20 against the Flames. The way he impacts the game is impressive. He seems to take a second off. Whether he's pressuring pucks, he's ending plays, he's hitting someone or he's driving the net, we're getting a chance at the net.
The Bruins lead the Eastern Conference despite missing top players like Brad Marchand. After having hip surgery, Marchand came back for Boston.
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