B's Signed Defenseman Charlie McAvoy To The Largest Deal (8 Yrs, $76 Million) In Team History

 

    On the eve of their 2021-22 regular season opener tomorrow night (7, NESN) at TD Garden vs. Dallas (1-0), the Bruins finalized the most important contract issue facing the team: they inked young franchise defenseman Charlie McAvoy to a huge eight-year extension worth $76 million. It is the biggest contract in team history and it shows just how much they believe in the 23-year old BU product who is about to enter his fifth season in the NHL. McAvoy finished fifth in the Norris Trophy (given to the league's best defenseman) last season and this deal makes him currently the fourth highest paid defenseman in the NHL. With that obviously comes more pressure and even higher expectations but that is nothing new for the former first-round pick (14th overall in 2016) who you will remember made his professional debut in the playoffs against Ottawa-the same year that he was drafted which is extremely rare these days in hockey.

    Hopefully B's captain Patrice Bergeron is around for many more years to come but whenever he retires from the Bruins (please don't make me picture him in another uniform), McAvoy looks like a great candidate to be the next captain of the Bruins. He's tough, he competes hard every shift, he is physical and does not shy away from very difficult matchups with the best players in the world while logging heavy minutes (average time on ice of 22:51 for his career). If we are nitpicking, his offensive game is what still needs the most work. McAvoy has never topped more than seven goals or 27 assists in a full season. His defensive game is more full grown since he has been at least a plus-14 in each campaign including a career-high plus-24 in 2019-20 and he has blocked a total of 382 shots and registered 421 hits. In 235 career regular season games, he has accumulated 24 goals, 98 assists and he is plus-80. In 65 career playoff games, he has five goals and 27 assists, 119 blocked shots and 147 hits. 

    Charlie will start this season once again as part of the top defensive pairing along with a member of the first power play unit (which should help bump up his offensive stats). He is not huge for a No. 1 defenseman (6 feet tall, 208 pounds) but he skates well and plays bigger than his size in terms of throwing monster hits and blocking plenty of shots. He has always been a natural leader dating back to his brief two years at BU and also playing on the U.S. national team that won a gold medal at the World Juniors in 2017. At least for now, Tuukka Rask and David Krejci are no longer here with the B's and sadly, Bergeron and Brad Marchand will not play for the Bruins forever either. The positive news is that the next generation of Bruins players should be in good hands with McAvoy locked in for a long time.

Patrice Bergeron Wins His First Selke Trophy

After a bitter first-round exit in the playoffs against the Capitals and Tim Thomas' bizarre exit, the Boston Bruins needed something positive to celebrate. They got it tonight as alternate captain Patrice Bergeron captured his first Selke Trophy (best defensive forward) at the 2012 NHL awards held in Las Vegas.

It was the first time Bergy had been nominated and he's the first Bruin to win it since former coach Steve Kasper 30 years ago in 1982. Those are the only two guys in franchise history to take home the Selke. The other nominees were St. Louis' David Backes and Detroit's Pavel Datsyuk, who won three straight from 2008-10.

Individual honors don't usually do it for me but I have to say that this was pretty sweet. I was definitely cheering while I watched it since Bergeron not only is one of the classiest and most professional athletes in Boston, but he's also returned from a couple of horrific concussions that looked like they might end his career way too early.

From ESPNBoston.com
"Playing both sides of the rink is something that I take a lot of pride in," Bergeron said after receiving the award. "That's the way I learned to play hockey, and to actually win an award that's given to the best defensive forward, or two-way forward, is something very special.

"Hockey's such a team sport that I have to thank all my teammates for this right now," Bergeron said. "They're the reason why I'm here, and thanks for making my job easy."

What likely earned him the nod over two very worthy opponents was the fact that Boston's second-line center led the NHL in plus-minus (+36) for 2011-12, won the most faceoffs (973) in the entire league and had the second best faceoff win percentage (59.3, .1 behind Jonathan Toews). Bergeron paced the B's with 42 assists and he was second in points (64). Perhaps best of all, the team's steadiest forward played in a career-high 81 games.

Bergeron is at the peak of his career and it's wonderful that he was rightfully recognized by the NHL. He's no longer just a player that we all love, now everybody can point to his Selke to see what a special player he has become. PS his girlfriend that I had never seen before tonight is a smokeshow so he's got that going for him too.

Bruins captain and defenseman Zdeno Chara came in third for the Norris Trophy (best defenseman), losing to Ottawa's Erik Karlsson.

Tweet


Follow @RichSlate

Zdeno Chara Named A Norris Trophy Finalist

The timing of it sucks but today, Boston Bruins captain Zdeno Chara was named one of three finalists for the Norris Trophy, handed out to the league's best defenseman.

He joins Nashville's Shea Weber and Ottawa's Erik Karlsson as nominees for the award which will be handed out June 20 in Las Vegas at the NHL awards ceremony.

Chara's a five-time Norris Trophy finalist (fourth time in five years he's been nominated) and he won it in 2009. Surprisingly of this group, only Chara's team is currently out of the 2012 NHL playoffs. Karlsson and the Senators face the Rangers tonight in Game 7 while Weber's Predators have already advanced to the Western Conference semifinals against the Phoenix Coyotes.

From ESPNBoston.com
Chara had a career-high 52 points this season (12 goals, 40 assists), fourth-best among all defensemen, and tied for third among all players with a plus-33. Chara, 35, played his 1,000th game in March and was a captain at the 2012 All-Star Game.

Karlsson, 21, broke out this season with 78 points -- 25 more than any other defenseman, and tying him for 10th-most among all players.

He had 59 assists, best among the league's defenders, and tied with Weber with 19 goals.

Weber, 26, had a career-best 49 points, tying him for sixth in the league overall, and scored 10 goals on the league's top power-play unit. His average ice time of 26 minutes, 9 seconds was fifth-most in the league.

Weber was a Norris finalist last season, finishing second in voting to Detroit's Nicklas Lidstrom.

I don't really have a feel for how this will shake out. You can make a case for any of the three players although I don't think that Karlsson deserves it as much as Chara and Weber since he's all offense and doesn't play a lick of defense (you know, a defenseman's main job). This award should be about the best all-around defenseman. In that case, Chara and Weber are basically even.

Tweet


Follow @RichSlate