The hockey that the Boston Bruins are about to play cannot compare to the electrifying version of the sport that we just witnessed in northern Italy, especially over the weekend as the Team USA women, then men, defeated Canada in sudden-death overtime to win gold. Nonetheless, henceforth begins the definitive stretch of hockey that the 32-20-5 Bruins will play as a team this winter.
The rejuvenated (29-20-7) Columbus Blue Jackets are the objects that are closer than they appear in the side-view mirror, and they visit TD Garden on Thursday (7 pm, NESN, 98.5 The Sports Hub).
Charlie McAvoy clutches his gold medal and has the late “Johnny Hockey” Gaudreau on his mind. Teammates Matthew Tkachuk and Dylan Larkin approve during what was an emotional celebration for Team USA in Milano. Peacock screen capture
The Bruins won’t get that good old post-Olympic roster infusion that jumpstarted the 1987-88 and 91-92, turning decent campaigns into special playoff runs and setting the team up for seasons of contention to come, but at least one Bruin got the experience of a lifetime and that alone is worth its weight in gold.
But before closing the book on the 2026 Winter Games, I want to take you with me to the 1993 NHL All-Star Weekend at the Montreal Forum, where the prelude to the Skills Competition included a swarm of little kids skating onto the famed rink to the backdrop of public address extoling the virtues of the Canadian hockey-training system.
I most recall hearing, “It is our game.”
The intentions were obvious: Fear not (as the NHL accepts Russian and other eastern Europeans into what had been for seven decades Canadian kids’ opportunities, as if by birthright), the game is in good hands, we shall prevail, etc. It was as if they were trying to convince themselves that it isn’t over for Canada.
One thing I don’t think Canadians understood about hockey-playing Americans before politics drove such a wedge between the nations was that we looked at Canada like our big brother in the sport. We rooted for them against the Soviets in 1972 – we were glued to our TV’s – it was only in the wake of that Summit Series that American hockey became somewhat obsessed with Russian this and Russian that. Hucksters even posted 3×5 cards on rink bulletin boards advertising the Russian way of skate sharpening. Seriously.
So, 20 years later when Canada is losing its confidence in its place as the world’s hockey-player factory, the NHL All-Star Weekend became the platform for some desperate chest beating. As fate would have it that spring, the Montreal Canadiens became the last Canada-based franchise to win the Stanley Cup. Trivially, the New York Rangers won their only championship since 1940 the very next year, and they, too, hosted the NHL All-Star Game in 93-94 before winning the Cup that spring.
Who’s game is it now, ours?
Someone posted a graph illustrating that, for the first time in NHL history, more than 50% of the league’s players are not from Canada. To be honest, I had assumed that to be the case throughout the 21st century.
I never thought of hockey as something that belonged to one country and not another. Our youth-hockey jackets had the US and Canada flags on the same logo at the top of the sleeve.
Historically, hockey was Canada’s sport before it was ours, but once it was ours, it was ours, too. And if it takes 3v3 overtime to settle the game that’s supposed to decide everything for the next four years, then let it be like Rudyard Kipling’s famous poem that greets the tennis players entering Centre Court at Wimbledon. “If you can meet with triumph and disaster, and treat those two imposters just the same …”
The Winter Games provided great hockey, great theater, and great outcomes for USA Hockey. But is the outcome different has the US not been ignored in a no-way-out, too-many-men situation? We’ll never know, but it was very nice to see the US win one of these for the first time since Lake Placid.
Coach Mike Sullivan’s forward/defense pairings for Team USA were not ridged, but it appears the head coach looks at his son-in-law Charlie McAvoy more in a Scott Stevens mold than he does, say, Scott Niedermayer.
It may also be that Team USA simply had more Niedermayer than Stevens in its lineup. That is, puck-skating and puck-moving ability more than big-hit threat and overall shutdown ability. Management consensus would probably estimate Jaccob Slavin as the Americans’ best defensive defenseman, but that is Slavin’s identity on the Carolina Hurricanes blueline as well as on the international stage. So McAvoy was deployed according to need.
For the former Boston University star from Long Island whose NHL career was hastened in 2017 by a rash of injuries during the Bruins’ playoff series against Ottawa, on-ice roles have always been a little tossed together in a Raymond Bourque kind of manner. McAvoy wasn’t a powerplay guy at BU, but the Bruins organization has been extremely steadfast in its projection of McAvoy as a PPQB in the NHL, and this season with the addition of Steve Spott to the coaching staff he finally looks the part.
It’s never been McAvoy’s thing to slow down the game, but the same can be said for Bourque, whose do-it-all, three-zone, 200-foot game graced the Bruins blueline from 1979 to 2000. Fellow Hall of Famer Zdeno Chara has had his offensively inclined moments, the most-memorable etched in history by the great Jack Edwards during a game against the Florida Panthers – “6-foot-9 and he’s a ballerina!” – but there is a big difference between adding to one’s game, the foundation of which was laid on an entirely different premise, and being that rare species that plays all three zones with the two-way dominance of Bourque, Brad Park or, dare we dream, Bobby Orr.
Speaking of do-it-all defensemen, if Caroline Harvey isn’t the best women’s hockey player I’ve ever seen, then my memory is shot.
I digress.
McAvoy has his critics because, like a golfer who hits 400 yards off the tee, his trouble is usually big trouble. But McAvoy is a rare defenseman with both high-end offensive and defensive qualities. He may tend to play at one explosive gear, but he’s put forth a strong body of work this season, building his powerplay acumen while playing with and against the puck with confidence.
While it’s helped that McAvoy hasn’t thrown his weight around this season like in years past, presumably to give his surgically repaired shoulder the chance to catch up to the rest of his hockey-playing body, that part of his game isn’t going away permanently. McAvoy still closes on puck carriers aggressively and, at some point, will get the green light to remind puck carriers not to take their zone entries lightly.
McAvoy was robbed, of course, of his participation in the 2025 4 Nations tournament, having been victimized by a cheap shot post-whistle, his season finished. A year later, he was in the thick of America’s run at its first men’s hockey gold since 1980. It was a richly deserved outcome.
While the Bruins value the experience that any of their representatives bring back from the Winter Games as did McAvoy with his goal-saving stop, most of the Bruins’ representatives shouldn’t arrive back home anywhere near as tired.
Prospect Dans Locmelis probably had the next most-impactful participation, having made his mark with a pair of powerplay goals in Latvia’s game against Germany. The 2022 fourth-round draft pick’s net-front skills have yet to compel Bruins management toward a recall of Locmelis to the NHL team. Whatever else, this guy is elite at being in the right place at the right time, and he doesn’t overthink his chances. Which brings us to his Latvian teammate Kaspars Daugavins … or not.
As for the rest of the Bruins: Jeremy Swayman lost a puck against the dark sideboards, his awful puck luck sealing his fate as a medal-round spectator. Nonetheless, Swayman was back in gear and colors for the on-ice celebration, receiving his gold medal, and he enjoyed a wonderful moment on the ice with fellow Hockey East alumni Jake Oettinger and the unbelievable Connor Hellebuyck. A well-rested Swayman will rejoin the Bruins.
Like Swayman, Joonas Korpisalo was the non-uniformed third goalie in a medal game, with his Finland teammates taking the bronze, 6-1 over Slovakia. Henri Jokiharju went plus-2 for the Finns. Given how bumpy his ride has been with the Bruins, especially early this season when coach Marco Sturm preferred a young left shot in what would be his right-side spot, Jokiharju bears watching as the NHL schedule resumes.
Don’t forget the Bruins made a big play on right-sider Rasmus Andersson until they knew the Swede would not sign an extension. With McAvoy on the top pairing and Andrew Peeke putting forth a 7th Player-type effort for most of the season on the second pairing, Jokiharju’s $3 million cap hit has to go out if anything comes in. It’s a quick run-up to the March 6 NHL Trade Deadline.
It was not a nice tournament for David Pastrnak or Czechia, which lacked depth without Pavel Zacha, who was held out by injury. Pastrnak’s one-timer helped the Czechs throw a major scare into Canada in the quarterfinals before bowing out. The game will be remembered for the two-many-men that got missed when Czechia scored a crucial goal, but what turned the tide was Nathan MacKinnon faking a fall on Michal Kempny’s crosscheck during an extended puck scrum in the corner before Canada got on the board. Of course, that powerplay goal got them going. Would Canada have found the switch without that call? We’ll never know, but it wasn’t looking good for the Canucks at that point in the game.
Elias Lindholm was quiet for Sweden, and only Victor Hedman’s fluke injury in the pregame warmup before the Tre Kronor’s quarterfinal against the United States finally got Hampus Lindholm into Olympic action. Neither Lindholm should be fatigued beyond jet lag.
One thing to keep in mind as the Bruins play their four remaining games before the March 6 trade deadline: Nothing short of core players sustaining season-ending injuries (like last year!) will change management’s approach.
The Bruins are not interested in acquiring rentals, nor are they inclined to move out expiring contracts whose play has been integral to their current standing (ie. Viktor Arvidsson). Casey Mittelstadt has another year remaining on his deal, so while GM Don Sweeney will certainly listen and perhaps entertain, thereby encouraging the hysterical rumor mill about to ensue – what am I talking about? There are already bloggers and podcasters already on my social-media feeds under the headline “HUGE DEAL BREWING” – the latest linking the Bruins to Rangers RFA defenseman Braden Schneider. Adam Fox (LTIR) and Will Borgen notwithstanding, if you’re Chris Drury and you’re rebuilding the Rangers, isn’t Schneider, the 24-year-old right shot under team control the one that you don’t trade?
The other thing the Bruins won’t do is trade varsity contributors on the premise that James Hagens (or any other college player) is ready to take that spot in the NHL lineup. Don’t forget that McAvoy was playing on an ATO with the Providence Bruins when a spate of blueline injuries left Sweeney no choice but to hasten his NHL debut during the Bruins’ 2017 playoff series against the Ottawa Senators. Don’t think of that outcome as a prooftext for future decisions but rather the caliber of player for whom it took such extraordinary circumstances to bring about his NHL debut ahead of schedule.
More likely, Sweeney has something in mind that isn’t on any blogger’s radar, and that’s the fun of the trade deadline.
Rink Rap will not be resuming game blogs with the Bruins back in action beginning Thursday. A family matter requires my attention until the middle of next week. I’ll be back just in time for the deadline. See you then.
Rink Rap with Mick Colageo 