Report: Bruins Not Happy With Medical Treatment McAvoy Received From Team USA

The Boston Bruins are not pleased with the medical treatment that their top defenseman Charlie McAvoy received in Montreal by Team USA doctors after injuring his shoulder at the 4 Nations Face-Off last week.

A report from Fluto Shinzawa in The Athletic indicates that a lengthy absence could be on the docket for McAvoy, and the team is none too happy about it.

It was a hockey play with a bad outcome. Such injuries happen regularly. Post-injury infections, the kind McAvoy has been diagnosed with, do not. It is why the Boston Bruins have expressed dissatisfaction with McAvoy’s care in Montreal as they brought him back under team care over the past two days.

McAvoy remains hospitalized in Massachusetts, being treated with IV antibiotics for an infection in his right shoulder. And although he's improving, "it is unknown when he will be well enough to be discharged," reports Shinzawa.

He will not be with the Bruins when they resume their regular season schedule on Saturday, at home against the Anaheim Ducks, and Bruins coach Joe Sacco said the key D-man is unlikely to be available for the Bruins’ three other games next week against the Toronto Maple Leafs, New York Islanders and Pittsburgh Penguins.

“I wouldn’t expect him in the short term,” Sacco said.

The injury seemed to occur in the team's first round-robin game, a win over Finland, but McAvoy was cleared by the Team USA medical staff to play in their next game, that barnburner of a contest on Saturday in which they beat Canada 3-1. McAvoy handed out five hits in that game, including a punishing one on Connor McDavid that led to a critical goal for the U.S.

In a span of 30 seconds, Charlie McAvoy laid out McDavid and Jake Guentzel tied the game…

Brady Tkachuk called him a TONE. SETTER. 💪

(via @NHL) pic.twitter.com/A6qLIb48ym
— B/R Open Ice (@BR_OpenIce) February 16, 2025

McAvoy complained of increased pain once Team USA arrived in Boston the next day, and that's when the Bruins medical staff took over, diagnosing him with an infection and a significant AC joint injury in the shoulder.