“To see him hurt like that in Montreal and to see him back like this with a smile, he’s all happy and excited.”
Charlie McAvoy returned to practice on Thursday, albeit in a non-contact jersey. AP Photo/David Zalubowski
December 4, 2025 | 4:29 PM
2 minutes to read
A little over two weeks after taking a slap shot to the jaw, Bruins defenseman Charlie McAvoy was back on the ice and practicing with his teammates at Warrior Ice Arena on Thursday morning.
McAvoy — donning both a red non-contract jersey and a cage over his face — is not expected to play this week, according to head coach Marco Sturm. But even if Sturm isn’t putting a definitive timeline on McAvoy’s return to game action, his presence during practice stood as a welcome sight.
“We will see how he is next week. There is no timeline,” Sturm said of McAvoy ahead of Thursday’s home game against the Blues. “I saw him for the first time, I don’t know, three or four days ago, and automatically, it puts a smile on your face. … We call him family, we call him a brother – to see him hurt like that in Montreal and to see him back like this with a smile, he’s all happy and excited. That for sure helps our guys here.”
McAvoy has been sidelined since taking a puck straight to the mouth during Boston’s road win over Montreal on Nov. 15.
Midway through the second period, McAvoy — out on a PK shift — took a direct hit to the mouth off of a shot fired in by Habs defenseman Noah Dobson.
McAvoy immediately hit the ice and covered his hands with his face. As McAvoy — his face covered by a towel — slowly made his way off the frozen sheet with the assistance of head athletic trainer Dustin Stuck, Nikita Zadorov attempted to recover some of his teeth amid the blood pooled out on the ice.
Sturm confirmed on Nov. 19 that McAvoy underwent “facial surgery” to correct his injuries, with no expected timeline for his return to the ice.
Even if the 27-year-old blueliner is still weeks away from getting cleared to play, Thursday’s practice reps stood as a major step in the right direction for both McAvoy and a team that has missed his presence on the blue line.
“It’s great to see him on the ice,” Pavel Zacha said of McAvoy’s return. “It’s been a couple days that he’s been out, but he’s been in the locker room. So it was great seeing him smile a little bit, being on the ice with us, even though it was in a red jersey. I think everyone loves to see guys coming back, and even if they can’t play yet, just skating with us and giving us some energy.”
The Bruins have taken on water since McAvoy went down with his injury, with Boston going 3-5 in the eight games since he landed on the shelf.
Further compounding Sturm and his club’s woes has been several other injuries — with David Pastrnak also set to miss his fourth-straight game on Thursday night due to a lower-body injury.
“We’re still hoping he’s gonna start skating soon,” Sturm said of Pastrnak. “But so far, yeah, he was just not ready yet.”
McAvoy is not the only Bruins D-man also hampered due to injury, as both Henri Jokiharju and Michael Callahan have been placed on injured reserve over the last week.
With Callahan standing as the latest banged-up Bruin, Boston called up Victor Soderstrom from Providence to fill in on the team’s third D pairing on Thursday.
Conor Ryan is a staff writer covering the Bruins, Celtics, Patriots, and Red Sox for Boston.com, a role he has held since 2023.
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