Charlie McAvoy has never been short on responsibilities with the Boston Bruins.
The Bruins’ top defenseman has played in all situations throughout his career, but last season he saw a heavier load on the penalty kill. McAvoy averaged 2:48 of shorthanded ice time per game, the most on the team, while his 193:38 of total shorthanded ice time was the highest mark of his career.
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The Bruins are looking to ease up on McAvoy’s penalty-killing responsibilities, though, and Marco Sturm reiterated that in a recent conversation with The Boston Globe.
“We felt it was a lot on McAvoy,” Sturm told The Boston Globe. “He did a lot, almost too much.
He probably loved it, but I think [fewer PK minutes] will help us overall, because we feel there’s still room in McAvoy’s game. But he needs the energy for it, and we were asking a lot in the past.
He did great with it, but hopefully this can help a little bit.”
Even with the uptick in penalty-killing responsibilities, McAvoy posted 50 assists and hit the 60-point mark for the first time in his career. He also had 23 points on the power play, another career high.
Nikita Zadorov is the only Bruins defenseman to play more shorthanded than McAvoy last season (214:22). However, he has led the NHL in penalty minutes for the past two seasons, and you can’t kill penalties from the box.
Alleviating McAvoy’s load was also part of the Bruins’ thinking when they traded for Will Borgen this summer.
“Will’s got length, he skates well, he competes, he closes in the D zone,” Don Sweeney said shortly after finalizing the trade. “Penalty killing is an area where we want to make sure we continue to take maybe a little load off of Charlie in some of those situations as a primary guy, so we can spread that around a little bit, and we just like his overall experience.
We like the size of the player and his overall attributes that he’s going to come in and complement our group.”
Borgen played 165:47 while shorthanded last season, the third most on the Rangers’ roster. He finished the season with an average of 2:13 per game, up from 1:16 during the 2024-25 season.
The Bruins’ penalty kill (77%) ranked 24th for the second straight season, and they were shorthanded more than any team in the league. However, the PK flipped during the postseason.
The Bruins went 23-for-24 (95.8%) against the Sabres, holding them to only one Rasmus Dahlin power-play goal in Game 5.
Hampus Lindholm (24:39) and McAvoy (22:16) led the team in shorthanded time on ice during the playoffs.
The Bruins are not looking to drop McAvoy from the penalty kill altogether. They just want him fresher elsewhere, and with new help, Sturm knows he can get more out of his top defenseman if his role is slightly adjusted.
Also Read:Bruins’ McAvoy, Swayman Land Side-by-Side in NHL’s Top 50
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