{"id":666668,"date":"2026-05-13T12:42:14","date_gmt":"2026-05-13T12:42:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/666668\/"},"modified":"2026-05-13T12:42:14","modified_gmt":"2026-05-13T12:42:14","slug":"bruins-charlie-mcavoy-suspended-six-games-to-start-2026-27-season","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/666668\/","title":{"rendered":"Bruins’ Charlie McAvoy Suspended Six Games To Start 2026-27 Season"},"content":{"rendered":"

After a year bumps, bruises, and injury \u2013 top Boston Bruins defenseman Charlie McAvoy<\/a> will have to wait longer than most to play again. McAvoy has been suspended six games to start the 2026-27 season for his slash on Buffalo Sabres winger Zach Benson<\/a> in Boston\u2019s decisive loss on April 28, per Chris Johnston of The Athletic<\/a>. McAvoy will forfeit just a bit more than $300K in salary due to the suspension, Johnston adds.<\/p>\n

The incident leading to McAvoy\u2019s slash occurred in the final 90 seconds of Boston\u2019s season. On a race for a puck headed towards an empty net, Benson\u2019s skate swept McAvoy\u2019s legs from under him \u2013 causing the defender to crash into the end-boards. In response, McAvoy two-hand slashed Benson across his upper-body. He was assessed a game misconduct and major penalty on the play. Benson was also handed a minor penalty for tripping. The NHL explained<\/a> that McAvoy used his stick as a weapon \u2013 even loading up for the strike \u2013 which led to the significant suspension.<\/p>\n

This is McAvoy\u2019s fourth run-in with the NHL Department of Player Safety. He was suspended one game in 2019 for a check to the head of Columbus Blue Jackets winger Josh Anderson<\/a>. In 2022, McAvoy was fined $5K for tripping Carolina Hurricanes defenseman Brady Skjei<\/a>. The first significant suspension of his career came at the start of the 2023-24 season, when McAvoy was forced to miss four games after a check to the head of Florida Panthers defenseman Oliver Ekman-Larsson<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Now, McAvoy\u2019s record of suspensions will find a new low. His absence will leave a big hole in Boston\u2019s lineup to start the season. He averaged 24:23 in ice time this season \u2013 three minutes more than anyone else on the roster. He finished the year with 11 goals and 61 points in 69 games, to go with 62 penalty minutes, 79 hits, and 129 shot blocks. Once again, his physical and relentless style of hockey made a difference for the Bruins \u2013 though it also led McAvoy to miss 13 games from a string of difficult injuries, including losing multiple teeth. A bit more discipline next season could go far in helping McAvoy avoid both injury and the Department of Safety.<\/p>\n

The Bruins bumped Andrew Peeke<\/a> up the lineup in McAvoy\u2019s absence this season. They may not be able to do the same next season, with Peeke set to become an unrestricted free agent on July 1. He finished the 2025-26 season with 14 points, 105 hits, and a team-leading 135 shot blocks. Those impacts helped Peeke climb to an average 19:23 in ice time, nearly a minute more than he managed in his first season with Boston last year. After another season offering impactful depth, Peeke should be a strong candidate to re-sign with the Bruins who will have more than $16MM in cap space per PuckPedia<\/a>. If Peeke moves on, the top right-defense role will be open to a summer signing for the first games of the season.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"After a year bumps, bruises, and injury \u2013 top Boston Bruins defenseman Charlie McAvoy will have to wait…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":666669,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[740,49,48,45341,4247,448,82,89202],"class_list":["post-666668","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-boston-bruins","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-charlie-mcavoy","tag-newsstand","tag-nhl","tag-sports","tag-suspensions"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/666668","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=666668"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/666668\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/666669"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=666668"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=666668"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=666668"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}