Charlie McAvoy Cares Not For Holdouts As He Signs a Three-Year Deal With the Bruins

A few days after inking head coach Bruce Cassidy to a contract extension, Bruins GM Don Sweeney continued to get things done as this morning he signed defenseman Charlie McAvoy to a three-year deal with an average annual value of $4.9 million per year which is quite reasonable. There were never any whispers of a holdout by McAvoy so in many ways, this moment was a mere formality but it still represents an important day for the Black and Gold.

Coming into his third NHL regular season, McAvoy is still only 21-years-old (he turns 22 on Dec. 21) but the 2016 first-round pick for Boston (14th overall) is without question one of the most talented young defensemen in the league. In 117 career regular season games, he has put up a more than respectable 14 goals and 46 assists with a plus/minus rating of plus-34. In that span, he has nine power-play points (3 goals, 6 assists), five game-winning goals and two overtime goals. In the playoffs where scoring is understandably harder to come by, his offensive numbers are down but still solid: three goals and 13 assists with a plus-four in 41 games.

In his brief professional career, really the only thing to quibble over with McAvoy is his durability. He played in 63 regular season games his rookie season and an even more concerning 54 last year. Granted, the only game he missed in Boston's run to Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Final was a one-game suspension. McAvoy isn't huge by today's standards (6-feet-tall, 208 pounds) but he plays a pretty physical style so it's tough to pinpoint why he's already missed so much time. It hasn't been any major injuries with him but rather numerous minor issues including a bizarre illness at the beginning of last season.

The B's should again be a contender in the Metropolitan Division and the Eastern Conference so honestly, I don't expect nor do I want McAvoy to play 82 games in the regular season. As long as he plays more than he did in the first two campaigns and is healthy come playoff-time, who cares? On the eve of their preseason opener tomorrow night in New Jersey, the only player left unsigned for Sweeney is defenseman Brandon Carlo. He is a year older McAvoy both in terms of age (22) and years played already in the NHL (3). He also plays a far less sexy game meaning that he is a prototypical defensive defenseman that will never put up any real offensive statistics of note. Still, he is very good at what he does and could be a top-pairing defenseman if Bruins captain Zdeno Chara ever retires. Keep in mind though that Cassidy and many NHL head coaches love to play left shot and right shot defensemen together when possible.

Carlo is super low-maintenance and he has been a professional from Day 1 when he was a second-round pick (37th overall) of the Bruins in 2015. Despite being away from his teammates this summer and in the early going of training camp, Cassidy has expressed confidence that Carlo is in great shape and ready to hit the ice whenever he officially returns to the team. I have no inside information on this (I wish I did) but expect him to get a new deal this week for roughly the same amount of years and less money ($3 million and change per year?) than Charlie. These are two of Boston's best building blocks from the defensive end for now and hopefully years to come.

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