Charlie McAvoy is a Boston Bruin.
He’s been one since June 24, 2016, when he was chosen 14th overall in the NHL Entry Draft held at the First Niagara Center (now the KeyBank Center) in Buffalo. He’s going to be one for the next nine seasons after coming to terms on an eight-year, $76 million extension announced Friday.
With one year left on his current three-year contract valued at $4.9 million per season, McAvoy will become the highest paid Bruins player in history when his $9.5 million annual salary kicks in for the 2022-23 NHL campaign.
Those numbers might make some grimace at the thought of so much of the cap being allocated to one player, but to know McAvoy is to understand that he’s worth it.
The Bruins and Don Sweeney, along with assistant GM and resident capologist Evan Gold are to be lauded for holding the line against rising salaries around the league for as long as they did. Inevitably, Boston was going to cross the nine-million threshold, so to do it for one of the youngest, most complete defensemen in the game makes sense.
Looking back, it seems absurd that the Boston University star was passed over by 12 other NHL teams before the B’s jumped on him. Auston Matthews went first overall to the Toronto Maple Leafs, but after him, there aren’t many players you can confidently project over McAvoy. But McAvoy was Boston’s guy all along. They knew what he could do, and while other defensemen like Jakob Chychrun and Dante Fabbro certainly intrigued and impressed, the B’s scouts were all about one guy- the surfing hockey prodigy from Long Island.
If the Bruins knew what they were getting in their top draft and future face of the franchise on the back end, the fans would start to get a sense of it, too.
From the moment the B’s called his name, McAvoy understood what being a Bruin was about. Once he had made his way to the stage to put on the Spoked B for the first time, don his draft cap and mug for pictures with the Bruins front office, he then ended up doing something you don’t typically see, because first-round picks are usually escorted away from the stage on the backside, where there are no fans present. However, in Buffalo, the design of the arena made it so that the players had to exit the floor of the arena by where the fan seating was.
As McAvoy approached, a contingent of Bruins faithful had gathered, and the chants began disjointed, but soon grew in volume and pitch: “Chah-lie! Chah-lie! Chah-lie!”
McAvoy’s escort tried prodding him toward the exit, but the newest Bruin was having none of it. He put his hand up, then walked over to where the B’s fans were and began shaking hands and signing autographs. He signed and shook and hi-fived and looked like he was having the time of his life.
While he was at it, Montreal’s first-round selection, another defenseman in Mikhail Sergachev (drafted ninth overall and subsequently traded to Tampa Bay for Jonathan Drouin), was walking by the same exit and saw McAvoy interacting with the fans. He stopped and waited at a respectful distance for McAvoy to finish. When Boston’s top pick finally turned around, Sergachev moved forward with his hand extended, but McAvoy grabbed him into a firm embrace. It was a nice moment to be sure, American and Russian, opponents on the international stage while McAvoy was skating for the U.S. National Development Program, now wearing the jerseys of sworn hockey rivals the Bruins and Canadiens.
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After that, McAvoy was gone and off to continue the whirlwind tour that every pre-COVID-19 first-round draft pick in the modern era went through, but the message was received. McAvoy is a humble, working-class kid who immediately undertook the mission of being a Bruins ambassador. He didn’t need any prompting, he just did it, because that’s who he is.
Later that evening, an encounter with his NTDP coach Don Granato, now bench boss of the Buffalo Sabres, revealed that McAvoy had been a joy mentor while at the Program two years before he headed to BU. Granato revealed in a one-on-one conversation that McAvoy has a magnetic personality, that people are just drawn to him. Universally loved by his teammates and respected by his coaches, was the total package athlete of a player with a lot of talent, but also the personality and character to be a good teammate and positive influence on a club’s culture.
After hearing his Team USA coach talk about him like that, his earlier interactions with the first Bruins fans he encountered as a new NHL pick and with a former and future opponent in Sergachev made sense.
Is all of this worth $76 million over eight years, well, that’s not the case being made, but it certainly begins to explain why the Bruins needed to re-sign their star defenseman.
At age 24, he’ll still be in his prime when his current deal expires. Boston is locking him up for what should be the absolute best years of his NHL career. There will be no worrying about offer sheets or poison pill UFA contract offers from a team like the New York Islanders, who no doubt would’ve loved to bring their native son home, especially with Barry Trotz running the Isles’ bench.
Charlie McAvoy is a Bruin. And he’s going to be a Bruin for a long time.
Yes, the B’s will now have to manage a big cap hit, but it was going to happen sooner or later. McAvoy is the right player to make the investment on. Defense is critical to any successful NHL team, and he is the cornerstone and will be for the next near-decade, possibly longer.
Will there be mistakes, turnovers, gaffes? Of course. To err is to be human. Anyone who makes an issue of those things isn’t worth a second of wasted breath. Ray Bourque turned the puck over. That’s not to say McAvoy is Bourque, but his best hockey is yet to come. You get what you pay for, and No. 73’s contributions will transcend what he does on the ice.
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With other lesser defenders (especially at even strength) signed to comparable contracts, McAvoy’s cap hit is no doubt a big one to swallow, but think of what the deal will look like in another five years when other lesser defenders cash in on a market that will continue to rise each year.
Think of what Patrice Bergeron’s $5.875 cap hit felt like in 2013, but how much of a bargain it is and has been for its entire life of eight seasons. Yes, Bergeron is in the final year of that deal, and the B’s will have to re-sign him, but you can bet that there has been communication with him on that front. With 37 being 37 (years old) at the start of next season, assuming he doesn’t call it a career, there will be room fit him under the cap. The team will be dealing with an estimated $12 million in space next summer, and Bergeron will be a top priority.
He chose to play out the string and not commit to signing an extension, so McAvoy was the deal needed to get done.
The sky is the limit for McAvoy and he’s just getting ready to spread his wings. He’s a top minute guy who can play in any situation, and is now running Boston’s top power play unit with all the big guns. Some will always find something to complain about, but from the team’s perspective, extending McAvoy was a must.
Now, it’s time to enjoy the ride and watch him soar.
DeBrusk getting back to form
After a strong preseason, third-line left wing Jake DeBrusk scored the winning goal in Boston’s season opener over the Dallas Stars Saturday at TD Garden.
On a play assisted by newcomers Erik Haula and Nick Foligno, DeBrusk got the puck in the slot from Haula, taking a quick shot to beat veteran Braden Holtby. The 2015 first-rounder actually started the play by forcing a turnover, which led to the rush and eventual game-winner.
“It’s always nice to help the team win,” DeBrusk said after the game. “I thought preseason went fairly well, but it’s just preseason. You want to get on the board as fast as possible. It seems like whatever is going on with our line and leaning on Nick (Foligno) and Erik (Haula), it’s been very helpful for me and it’s been nice to score in front of a full TD Garden.”
DeBrusk scored 27 goals in 2018-19, so if he can get back to that level of secondary scoring for the Bruins, it would bode extremely well for the team, which got two goals from top scorer Brad Marchand last night, one of which was a penalty shot. Marchand noted that it was a strong performance overall from DeBrusk, not just putting home the winning tally.
“I was more impressed with the details in his game tonight,” Marchand said. “He hounded pucks on his goal and turned it over, created the loose puck for Foligno and Haula to do their thing and then he went to the net and got rewarded. His details, when he takes care of them, he’s a hell of a player.”
It’s just one game, but DeBrusk’s energy and body language have been up since the start of training camp, and happy players tend to be successful ones. It’s a good sign for the Bruins that he’s finding his scoring touch and as a human, seeing DeBrusk smiling again may seem like a trivial thing, but it’s not.
Marchand is going to score for this club. So will Bergeron, David Pastrnak, and Taylor Hall. If the B’s can get 20 or more goals from DeBrusk, that takes a lot of pressure off of the top two lines and brings balance to the forward group that hasn’t been there for the past couple of seasons.
