Charlie McAvoy is no stranger to playing alongside a big body. The 23-year-old was paired with 6-foot-9 Zdeno Chara for the first three-plus seasons of career and learned the ropes from the former Bruins captain.
Now, it looks like McAvoy could have another hulking blue liner to his left.
McAvoy was paired with 6-foot-4 newcomer Derek Forbort for the first two days of camp, forming a duo that could see significant time together during the regular season.
"I think with every partner, regardless, I have the upmost trust and faith in those guys," said McAvoy, who paired with familiar partner Matt Grzelcyk during Saturday's sessions. "He's big, he takes up space, defends really hard. As far as in the grand scheme of the game, turning pucks over and quick transition, that's something we're going to be trying to do a lot.
"If he's able to make those plays, obviously we can go the other way pretty quick. It's been fun playing with him. He's big. He's got a long stick and we've been breaking up plays pretty well and still getting acclimated and talking a lot through it all."
McAvoy, meanwhile, was also manning the B's top power play unit on Saturday afternoon with Patrice Bergeron, Brad Marchand, David Pastrnak, and Foligno at the net front.
"I had a lot of fun playing with those guys last year," said McAvoy, who has spent most of his time with the second unit to this point of his career. "They're obviously world-class players…so long as I'm back there, I want to be reliable, make the plays that I'm supposed to make, give those guys the puck in positions where they can show their skill and make good plays and complement them well. That's what I'm looking to do and build confidence more and more as we do it."
The former first-round pick is in the final season of a three-year deal and is poised to secure a significant raise on his current $4.9 million cap hit, particularly after some of the deals his fellow young blue liners Seth Jones, Cale Makar, Dougie Hamilton, and Zach Werenski signed this past offseason. McAvoy, however, is not making his next deal a priority at the moment.
"Just playing hockey, that's it," said McAvoy. "Obviously, all those D-men, I'm very happy for them. I know quite a few of them. Couldn't be happier for them. They're all very well deserved. But for me, I'm just excited about this year, excited about the group we have. Being back together and seeing everyone is always so awesome. I feel like we've had a good few days here to start. Just want to keep building on that momentum."
