After already being ruled out for the NHL 4 Nations Tournament Final on Thursday, Charlie McAvoy‘s injury controversy continues. The Boston Bruins released a team statement Wednesday addressing McAvoy’s status, being careful not to give any actual details on the nature of the injury. Ultimately, these reports, along with the Bruins’ personnel comments, paint a more unnerving picture of how the team feels. The overwhelming feeling is that Boston is unhappy with the National team’s care of one of their star players.
Elliotte Friedman reports, “The Bruins were extremely unhappy with the way this was handled, and they felt McAvoy didn’t get the proper care.” The buzz started to pick up steam about the Bruins’ unhappiness when Team Canada’s GM (and also the Bruins’ GM) Don Sweeney announced the injury and its specifics. That’s rare in today’s NHL, which hinted that Sweeney wanted everyone to know Team USA’s medical staff dropped the ball.
Part of the beef might be that Team USA’s doctors were from the Minnesota Wild organization, and the Bruins are campaigning for medical personnel to be independent of any NHL franchise in the future.
McAvoy’s Injury Causing More Concern Than Anticipated
Charlie McAvoy remains hospitalized to deal with the infection in his right shoulder. It’s easy to imagine that even without full details, the overwhelming feeling about this long of a hospital admission is never good news.
His teammate, Charlie Coyle, expressed his concerns over the health of his fellow “Charlie” with The Athletic.
“You can’t move. You break a bone. You physically can’t play. But these little things, like an infection or whatever it is, it kind of stings that much more. Depending on what it is, you’re like, ‘I feel like I can play. I feel like I can do it.’ But there’s something going on there that you need to be cautious of. It stinks either way. Because we all want to go out there and we’re competitive, especially Charlie. You just hate hearing that. You hate seeing that. You just hope that whoever it is, they get back to playing and get back to good health as soon as they can the right way.”
In addition, Boston Bruins head coach Joe Sacco has already made his statement to the media, quoting to “not be expecting [Charlie McAvoy] in the short term.”
Frustration Around the Handling of the Injury
Charlie McAvoy sustained his injury during the USA’s win over Finland on February 13th. Medical staff for the U.S. National Team had cleared McAvoy to return to play against Canada that following Saturday. McAvoy and his fellow defensive cohorts put on an absolute masterclass to shut down Team Canada. News outlets are still talking about the physicality and spectacle of it almost a week later, heading into the anticipated rematch.
The disconnect occurs between Saturday’s matchup in Montreal and today. Two days ago, Team USA transferred McAvoy’s care back to the Boston Bruins. Since then, we have learned that he will sadly miss the tournament final. As this continues to unfold, more updates will be discussed, and more opinions will be given from all sides.
It’s hard to argue about the incredible grit Charlie McAvoy displayed on the ice for his home country. It is hard to critique the amazing impact the 4 Nations Tournament has had on the NHL and the game of hockey. Despite all this, from the Boston Bruins’ perspective, they still have a season to finish.
The franchise is already in a tumultuous season, one point out of a wild-card spot for the playoffs. They now face a sudden and seemingly very serious injury to their top defensemen. The U.S. National team heads into the final tomorrow night, needing the love and support they can get from fans and country alike. Ironically, on the Bruins’ home ice.
