“It cost me my season. It cost me my sanity in a lot of ways,” the Boston Bruins’ Charlie McAvoy said about the acromioclavicular (AC) joint infection he picked up at the 4 Nations Face-Off in February. The injury he suffered against Finland at the international hockey tournament even kept him on the sidelines for the remainder of the 2024-25 season, and his oozing frustration was easy to understand. However, as the new season approaches, it seems like the 27-year-old blueliner still isn’t over the nightmare.

Talking to NHL journalist Elliotte Friedman recently, McAvoy revealed how the upper-body injury caused him significant concerns last season. On being asked if the infection showed signs of being life-threatening at any point, the Long Beach native acknowledged, “At that point, it starts in your AC, and now you’re showing tracks of it coming closer to your heart. Now you’re getting worried.” In the YouTube upload by Sportsnet from September 22, McAvoy further explained how he and his associates had planned to tackle the situation head-on.

“There were two sets of plans for if it had gotten any further, which is when it does become life-threatening, if it gets to your heart,” McAvoy’s words make it clear just how close he was to experiencing a grave situation in its truest sense. Luckily, the flames were brought under control with haste. “Fortunately, we didn’t get there. We were able to act fast enough to go in and get everything cleaned up before we got to that point,” the memories seemed to bring McAvoy comfort.

But even in despair, McAvoy had the medical staff at the Massachusetts General Hospital work around the clock to get him back to his feet. And the hockey star hasn’t forgotten their toil. “Just another opportunity for me to say how grateful I am for the health care I received there at MGH,” the Boston alternate-captain nodded his hat at his caregivers.

McAvoy had to sit out the rest of the 4 Nations Face-Off because of the infection. While he made sure to cheer for Team USA from the sidelines, he couldn’t lend his help to his teammates with a hockey stick from inside the skating rink. But while the tournament was a landmark event for the hockey world, McAvoy personally seemed more interested in putting the entire fiasco in the rearview mirror. Calling the entire series of events “scary,” he also took a dig at the international competition for bringing an early end to his regular season.

However, while McAvoy eventually made it back to full health, the Bruins suffered immensely in his absence from their ranks. With their key defensive figure, Boston missed the playoffs for the first time since 2016. While it could be argued that it was the team’s decision to part ways with the likes of former coach Jim Montgomery and long-time captain Brad Marchand that brought about their downfall, McAvoy’s case remains a major point of contention for the NHL franchise. And the Bruins made sure to let their feelings be known.

Boston’s top brass noted that they were “unhappy” about how Team USA handled McAvoy’s situation. “It became pretty clear it’s because the Bruins were extremely unhappy with the way this had been handled and that they felt in this particular case McAvoy didn’t get the proper care,” Friedman reported just days after McAvoy’s health scare came to the fore. However, the defenseman, being the fighter he is, had his eyes looking forward.

Charlie McAvoy is locked in for the road ahead

The break from hockey ultimately played out to McAvoy’s advantage. “It was a long summer, but in a lot of ways it was beneficial…a chance to have a lot of months, to put in a lot of work, which is nice, something that I haven’t really had since we have always been a playoff team. It was a longer summer, but I used it to my advantage,” he said in August, about how he got to kick back and enjoy his time with the Bruins finishing the season at the bottom of the table. “I would have played if we had made the playoffs, but it was probably for the best that I didn’t have to and gave my shoulder a full chance to heal and feel good this year,” he acknowledged.

But the whole stretch was a rough patch to sail through, especially considering that McAvoy had become a new dad just days before his injury at the 4 Nations. “It was just a tough time. I had a newborn at home. It was just a lot to deal with,” McAvoy confessed to Friedman in early September. But onward and upward, that’s his motto. “We got everything to prove. This is the first time in my career that we’re going into this year probably not being a playoff team by a lot of people’s metrics. We’re a playoff team every day of the week, in my mind,” he said about how he will be lacing up to take the Bruins all the way in the 2025-26 season.

On Sunday, he was finally back in action after months. “It was good to play hockey again. When the preseason gets going, some good and some bad – but it was just good to be back out there again and good to feel good. Body feels really good,” he said after the Bruins’ first pre-season game, where he posted 21:01 of ice time. So, how will his season unfold? Will Charlie McAvoy be able to prove that being named in the national team for next year’s Winter Olympics was something he deserved? Only time will tell!