Charlie McAvoy and Mark Kastelic did all they could to get healthy in time, but the clock has run out.
With just three games left on the schedule for the Boston Bruins, interim coach Joe Sacco announced on Thursday that neither player will return from their respective injuries before the end of the regular season.
Both players had been trying to make a comeback over the last few weeks, participating in practices with the team in hopes of playing again this year.
McAvoy hasn’t played in over two months since playing for Team USA in the 4 Nations Face-Off, where he sustained a shoulder injury that was complicated by an infection and later required surgery. The defenseman and alternate captain recorded 23 points with seven goals in 50 games this year for the Bruins.
Kastelic was relatively unknown when he first arrived in Boston as part of the trade that sent Linus Ullmark to Ottawa, but quickly became a favorite among Bruins fans through his high-energy, hard-hitting style of play and eventually signed a three-year contract extension with the team.
He appeared in 61 games and scored 14 points with six goals before suffering an upper-body injury. Never afraid to drop the gloves, Kastelic accumulated 106 penalty minutes and currently stands third in the league with 10 fighting majors.
McAvoy and Kastelic are just the latest members of the Bruins to have their seasons cut short due to injury. Defenseman Hampus Lindholm hasn’t played since breaking his knee cap back in mid-November, which was among the first in a long line of instances that made this a lost season in Boston.
As it stands now, the Bruins sit dead last in the Eastern Conference with a record of 32-38-9 and have already been eliminated from playoff contention. While the potential of returns of McAvoy and Kastelic surely would’ve boosted the team’s morale, they likely would’ve hurt its odds of landing the top pick in the upcoming NHL draft lottery.
While injuries have hurt the Bruins this year, they’ve also created vacancies in their lineup that opened opportunities for young prospects at the NHL level, and forward Riley Duran is just the latest example.
The rookie from Woburn, MA, will make his NHL debut tonight against the Chicago Blackhawks at TD Garden.
