Charlie McAvoy’s delayed suspension could have turned into an early-season mess for the Boston Bruins. Instead, Boston handled it, took a few punches, and still came out sitting on top of the Atlantic Division.
McAvoy was forced to sit six games after being suspended in Game 6 of the first round of the 2025-26 playoffs for slashing Buffalo Sabres forward Zach Benson. That postseason ended with Buffalo winning the series, and when the league’s punishment finally carried over into this season, it initially looked like Boston would have to open the year without its best defenseman for a brutal stretch.
That concern made sense. McAvoy isn’t just a core player for the Bruins - he’s one of the three most important players on the roster.
Last season, he led Boston defensemen in goals, assists and points, and he also paced all Bruins skaters in average time on ice while ranking second on the team in total ice time. He did all that in only 69 games.
Losing that kind of minute-munching anchor for six straight games had the feel of a problem that could spiral fast.
But Boston got through it with a 4-2 record and never let the absence sink the season before it really got going. The Bruins opened with a pair of wins, blanking the New York Rangers 3-0 and then outlasting the Winnipeg Jets 5-4 in overtime.
Then came the wobble. Boston dropped back-to-back 4-1 games to the Minnesota Wild and Ottawa Senators, a stretch that raised real concern about what life might look like without McAvoy. The Bruins allowed eight goals across those two outings and produced just two goals of their own, which had people wondering if the defense was about to be exposed.
Instead, they steadied themselves. Boston finished the suspension with wins in its final two games without McAvoy, with Pastrnak, Minten and Geekie all finding the net multiple times.
Jeremy Swayman also played a big role, turning away 36 of 37 shots against the Utah Mammoth in a one-goal effort. The Bruins’ work during that stretch helped push them up in the power rankings, and after another win once McAvoy returned, they sat first in the Atlantic Division, tied with the Ottawa Senators.
There was also some value in the lineup shuffling that came with McAvoy’s absence. Boston used the stretch to look at different defensive combinations, including pairing Hampus Lindholm with Will Borgen. That duo outscored opponents 6-1 while on the ice, giving the Bruins another possible option if the Lindholm-McAvoy look doesn’t end up holding long term.
For a team that could easily have stumbled into an early losing skid, Boston instead regrouped after a rough couple of games and stayed near the top of the standings. McAvoy returned, scored and logged more than 20 minutes of ice time, and the Bruins emerged from the six-game stretch with a little less pressure hanging over them.
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