Nearly a decade ago, Zdeno Chara was paired with a young Charlie McAvoy at the start of his first training camp with the Boston Bruins. Now it’s a 28-year-old McAvoy playing the veteran mentor role and being paired with 23-year-old rookie Frederic Brunet in the opening days of Bruins training camp while showing the young kid the ropes.
The B’s are clearly hoping that pairing the veteran leader with the young blueline upstart will pave the way for a strong preseason performance from a young player Boston wants to compete for, and ultimately claim, an NHL roster spot this fall.
“He’s a great kid. He’s got a really good skill set and he can skate,” said McAvoy of Brunet, who posted 12 goals and 36 points in 65 games for the P-Bruins last season. “He can make a lot of plays, so I think he’s a really exciting prospect, and I’m just trying my best to help him out.
“I remember all that [skating with Chara]. The communication and all the anxiety when you come in and you feel like you’re living and dying with every [practice] rep. I’m at a different point in my career now and you know what you’re looking to get out of camp, and to sort of set that tone. I’m trying my best to help him, but he’s a really good kid and I’m excited to help him in any way. That’s what we need now is those young guys fighting and pushing for spots and bringing that depth to our organization.”
Interestingly enough, McAvoy compared Brunet favorably to former B’s defenseman Matt Grzelcyk as an NHL comparison, though the 6-foot-2 Brunet is physically a lot bigger than McAvoy’s former longtime defense partner. McAvoy had some of his best seasons in Boston paired with Brunet, and perhaps being put together with another player of that puck-moving, fast-skating type could bring out the best in him again.
“I guess a lefty with some skill…maybe he’s a little like [Grzelcyk]. He’s taller than him, but he can move really well. From what I’ve seen he is good with the puck, can make plays and find the middle, and I think he thinks the game at a really high level,” said McAvoy. “I had a lot of good chemistry and good years with [Grzelcyk], so if he could be someone like that, I think we could play really well together.”
On another note, McAvoy was asked at training camp this week about the Bruins captaincy, with Boston ready to announce a new captain prior to opening night later this month, and took the right approach as a team leader by letting the process play out before the “C” is finally announced.
“I haven’t talked to anybody about it. I haven’t even talked to [Pastrnak] about it. Obviously, there’s a lot of noise around it and stuff like that,” said McAvoy. “But at the end of the day I was sort of framing [this training camp] with the moniker of ‘things I can control and things that I can’t control.’ This is obviously something I can’t control. I am in camp and trying to control the things I can control. How they approach it, I genuinely have no idea and it’s out of my control.”
Charlie McAvoy on the announcement of a captain and how he’s approaching the outside noise:
— Tom Calautti (@TCalauttis) September 18, 2026
“I haven't talked to anybody about it. I, honestly haven't even talked to Pasta about it really.
Um, you know, obviously there is a lot of noise around it and stuff like that, but, you… pic.twitter.com/UA0TUOFnec
ONE TIMERS
*It sounds like the Boston Bruins are going to be looking for a little more offensively out of their D-men this season, which one would think could play into Mason Lohrei actually winning a spot in the everyday lineup after it felt like he was on the trading block this summer.
Either way, a few Bruins blueliners enjoyed pretty good offensive seasons, with McAvoy at the top of the list, but Marco Sturm could be looking for more from players like Nikita Zadorov and Hampus Lindholm from a production standpoint as they look for ways to create more offense.
“Overall, they did exactly what I'm asking for. they played really good defensively, I thought, for the most part. They tried everything I was asking for. Having said that, sometimes I think the offense was kind of the one thing, one area, it kind of got lost a little bit,” said Sturm. “I think there's times we could have maybe joined the rush more. We could have been more active overall as a defensive group. That's something we're going to touch on starting tomorrow to be more involved, I would say, in our offensive game.”
It remains to be seen how a slightly more aggressive approach from their blueline would impact a team that was defense-first last season in many respects, but there is definitely room for the defensemen to be a little more aggressive within the system after getting more comfortable with the way Boston’s coaching staff is doing things these days.
*One player that hasn’t been mentioned in terms of contract extension talks is 27-year-old Casey Mittelstadt, who has been skating with usual center Pavel Zacha and German import JJ Peterka during training camp this week.
Mittelstadt is coming off a season where he posted a solid 15 goals and 42 points in 71 games on a highly, highly effective second line, so starting him in camp with Zacha was a comfortable spot for both of those players, and also a place where they could ease the new guy Peterka in given his past playing history with Mittelstadt in Buffalo.
The Sabres, Avalanche and Bruins forward confirmed that there haven’t been any contract extension talks between his camp and the team this summer, but he made it clear that he’d like to stay in Boston behind this season if that is in the cards.
“I’ve loved it here. I love the guys, and I love the way we want to play,” said Mittelstadt. “You never know what happens. It’s a business. But I love it here.”
*Matt Poitras became the last Bruins player to sign ahead of training camp when he inked his contract on the same Wednesday that Boston players reported to camp for medicals and was on the ice on Thursday for the first day of camp practice. The speculation was that Poitras was holding out for a one-way contract that usually denotes a player being slated for an NHL spot, but instead he settled for a one-year, two-way contract for $850,000 that was probably the same deal that was on the table all summer.
“I was happy to get it done and happy to be in here in camp,” said Poitras. “Every year is a big year, but I really want to work hard in camp and earn an opportunity to play here. I’m confident in myself that I’m an everyday NHL player, but I want to prove to everybody that I can be in the lineup every night and be relied on. I think that’s the next step for me.
“For me it’s playing simple. Sometimes I hold onto pucks too much and try to do a little too much putting myself in bad spots. Make the play in front of me, be above pucks and I want to be relied on in the role I’m looking to make out of camp. I want to earn that trust and then continue to build it from there.”
That’s it for this week, we’ll see everybody at the rink.