Bruins News: Marco Sturm breaks silence on Charlie McAvoy with post-surgery injury update

Contrary to most predictions coming into the NHL season, Marco Sturm and the Boston Bruins are putting on a show in the 2025-26 campaign. Sitting among the top teams in the Eastern Conference, the Spoked B will be put to the test as defenseman Charlie McAvoy has been sidelined.

Sturm and the Bruins have taken the NHL by surprise. Not many expected Boston to be near the top of the Atlantic Division one quarter into the season. However, through 21 games, the Bruins are still among the best sides in the league. Still, missing its best blueliner, the Spoked B will now be facing significant adversity.

After taking a puck to the face during the Bruins’ 3-2 win over the Montreal Canadiens, McAvoy underwent surgery. The medical procedure will sideline him for an indefinite period in the 2025-26 NHL season. On that note, Sturm provided an injury update on the 27-year-old defenseman.

“[McAvoy’s] doing good. He’s recovering right now at home, and we still don’t know how long he’s going to be out for,” Sturm told reporters, according to NESN.

Marco Sturm during a game

Adversity is inevitable

Sooner or later in any NHL season, every team must overcome hurdles and challenges. Those who make it out prove they belong in the postseason; those who don’t must settle for the promising look of next season.

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Now, Sturm’s Boston has reached its first checkpoint to prove the Bruins belong at the top. In order to weather the storm, the first-year bench-boss will need to see an increased production from some players.

“Other guys have to step up, I think that’s the bottom line,” Marco Sturm concluded on the injury crisis Boston is now facing, via NHL.com. “It can’t [only] be [Nikita] Zadorov and [Hampus] Lindholm.”

Injured players in Boston

The Bruins are currently missing key pieces to their puzzle, with Elias Lindholm (lower body), Viktor Arvidsson (lower body), Casey Mittelstadt (lower body), and Jordan Harris (ankle surgery) all placed on Injured Reserve (IR).

As the players on the Spoked B look around the dressing room at TD Garden, it’s easy to grow anxious seeing so many faces missing. However, Sturm is determined to keep the team’s spirits high, voicing a confident message for the Bruins.

“Every team goes through it and unfortunately it’s us right now,” Sturm noted. “When you talk to players, they always want ice time, they always want playing time, they hate to be scratched, and this and this and that. Well, this is their opportunity.”

Charlie McAvoy at TD Garden on October 21, 2025 in Boston, Massachusetts.

Sturm must weather the storm

What started off as a magical rebound season is now dangerously close to becoming a nightmare ride into the abyss. Sturm—making his debut as an NHL head coach—must now take an intensive course in crisis and group management, as the players begin to grow frustrated and the season threatens to go off the tracks.

Only time will tell whether Sturm can steer his team back on course amid the frenzy. If not, it may be his bags that are packed and tossed into the Boston Harbor in a 21st-century edition of the Boston Tea Party.