The Boston Bruins trail 3-1 in a best-of-seven series with the Ottawa Senators. Had the results been reversed, there would be a lot more buzz surrounding the play of 19-year-old defenseman Charlie McAvoy.
McAvoy made his NHL debut in Game 1, and instantly earned the trust of head coach Bruce Cassidy by logging 24:11 minutes of ice time - second only to Zdeno Chara.
McAvoy has gone on to play 27:47 in Game 2, 24:44 in Game 3, and a team-high 25:03 in Game 4. Mind you, Games 2 and 3 went to overtime, but both ended relatively quickly.
With numerous injuries on Boston's blue line - most notably to Torey Krug and Brandon Carlo, who have yet to play in the series - McAvoy's ice time has partially been out of necessity, but he's also earned every minute with exceptional play from the back end.
Playing defense is hard. Defensemen almost always take longer to develop than forwards since it's such a tough position to play at a young age. It's partially why general managers prefer to use early-round draft picks on forwards, because they will make an impact sooner.
This makes what McAvoy is doing all that more impressive. In fact, only eight teenage defensemen have suited up during the playoffs since 1998-99, when Hockey Reference began to track average time on ice.
| Player | Year | Games | ATOI |
|---|---|---|---|
| Luca Sbisa (PHI) | 08-09 | 1 | 5:37 |
| Erik Karlsson (OTT) | 09-10 | 6 | 25:52 |
| Cam Fowler (ANA) | 10-11 | 6 | 22:14 |
| Jonas Brodin (MIN) | 12-13 | 5 | 26:23 |
| Dougie Hamilton (BOS) | 12-13 | 7 | 15:47 |
| Olli Maatta (PIT) | 13-14 | 13 | 18:05 |
| Zach Werenski (CLB) | 16-17 | 3 | 23:29 |
| McAvoy (BOS) | 16-17 | 4 | 25:26 |
What all those defensemen had, which McAvoy doesn't, is the experience of already playing a full NHL season. In fact, McAvoy had only played four games in the AHL prior to his NHL debut. He was thrown right into the fire, but he has answered the bell.
He only has one point and five shots on goal, but has an excellent 5v5 Corsi For percentage of 54.11, according to Corsica.Hockey. This is the 17th best CF% among defensemen in the playoffs.
Possession stats like Corsi are great, but they rarely tell the whole story.
You'd think logging over 25 minutes a game would expose a 19-year-old defenseman like McAvoy, but that hasn't been the case. He has taken exceptional care of the puck with only one giveaway in the series, according to Hockey Reference.
In addition to only giving the puck away just once in 102 minutes of ice time, he has also recorded four takeaways, tied for fifth-most in the playoffs.
Yet, what stats don't tell you is simply how composed McAvoy looks with the puck. He looks like a 10-year veteran out there. He wants the puck on his stick and wants to be the defenseman to make the first pass out of the zone.
Even if the Bruins wind up getting eliminated in Friday's Game 5, fans in Boston can look forward to having a stalwart on the back end for many years to come.
Having McAvoy paired with Chara makes it all the more fitting, as the 40-year-old is essentially passing the torch to the kid as the next great defenseman in Bruins history.
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