Zdeno Chara’s influence still looms large over Bruins’ Charlie McAvoy

Boston Bruins

“He really laid the foundation for everything for me as a pro hockey player.”

At this stage of his career, 28-year-old Charlie McAvoy holds court as the Bruins’ top option on the blue line. 

But the gifted defenseman still remembers his first days in Boston’s dressing room as a 19-year-old rookie in April 2017.

Just a few weeks removed from playing for Boston University, the talented prospect was going to be called upon to make his NHL debut during the Stanley Cup Playoffs against Ottawa.

It didn’t take long for McAvoy to gravitate toward captain Zdeno Chara in Boston’s room. 

“When I met him, I called him ‘Mr. Chara’ and he was like, ‘Don’t do that. Call me Z,’ ” McAvoy said Wednesday of his first meeting with Chara. “He just has that larger than life persona. I was just wide-eyed. You look up to him, obviously, and I was just blown away by how much of a gentleman he was and how kind he was to me. 

“At that point, I was just a 19-year-old kid and it was just amazing how welcoming he was and that was really part of the culture that he created here.”

Chara’s imposing presence as a 6-foot-9 shutdown defenseman helped carve a path to the Hockey Hall of Fame. But it was Chara’s leadership and his hand in cultivating a culture that endures in Boston to this day that still resonates with McAvoy as he leads a reworked Bruins roster. 

“I just learned so much for him, so much,” McAvoy said. “He really helped me grow as a pro and to find the game, the consistency and what I wanted to become as a professional. I credit so much of that to Z, I really do.”

Chara’s role in righting the ship of Boston’s once-rudderless direction — leading to the Original Six franchise’s first Stanley Cup title in 39 years in 2011 — will be recognized on Thursday when the Hall-of-Fame defenseman’s No. 33 jersey is raised to the TD Garden rafters before Boston’s game against the Kraken. 

McAvoy saw firsthand Chara’s impact both on the ice and in the room. 

From 2017-20, a defensive pairing of McAvoy and Chara logged 2,259 minutes of 5-on-5 ice time together — with only seven other D pairs recording more ice time together over that three-season stretch.

For McAvoy, skating alongside a defensive equalizer like Chara helped him round out his own game — especially during his early years where his focus was more on playmaking than shutting down opposing skaters. 

“That was a lot of what I learned that first year,” McAvoy said. “And maybe when I was in college I was run-and-gun and trying to play offense every shift. He really reined me in and said, ‘Look, our responsibility every night is to shut down the best players on their team. And that’s how we win.’ 

“That should feel like a goal and an assist, if you can keep a [Connor] McDavid off the scoresheet. I had to digest that and really take it to heart. And that was something that I think was responsible for becoming the player I became, learning from him and really trying to get better at the defensive side.”

McAvoy has carried Chara’s mentorship forward. As Boston’s go-to option on the blue line, McAvoy has helped several younger defenseman find their footing in recent years — with the All-Star skater now skating with rookie standout Jonathan Aspirot over the last few weeks. 

“I think it helps me with every guy I’ve played with,” McAvoy said of the lessons learned from his days playing with Chara. “He was really the first consistent partner I had. We played together for years. The way that we communicated, the way that we piggy-backed off each other, when it was time to put a fire out for each other, those were the things that I saw as being attributes of being a good partnership. 

“And I try to take that and carry that with whoever I’m playing with. But, yeah, there are really so many things and I never really thought of that till you just mentioned it. There’s so many things that I attribute to him. He really laid the foundation for everything for me as a pro hockey player.”

 

Conor Ryan is a staff writer covering the Bruins, Celtics, Patriots, and Red Sox for Boston.com, a role he has held since 2023.