- Charlie McAvoy offered in-person hearing for slashing Zach Benson in Game 6
- In-person format means a suspension longer than five games is on the table
- Read below for the play, the quotes, and what happens next
Charlie McAvoy’s playoff exit just got more complicated.
The Department of Player Safety announced Saturday that the Bruins defenseman has been offered an in-person hearing for his baseball-swing slash on Buffalo’s Zach Benson late in Game 6. Date and time are still TBD:
The format matters. A phone hearing maxes out at five games, while an in-person hearing lets the league go higher than that. Any suspension above the five-game threshold opens the door for the NHLPA to appeal to commissioner Gary Bettman.
The play happened with 1:31 left Friday at TD Garden. McAvoy and Benson were chasing an icing when Benson clipped McAvoy’s feet from behind, sending him into the end boards.
McAvoy got up, charged Benson, brought his stick down two-handed, and threw a right cross for good measure.
We covered the ejection itself when it happened. Steve Dangle summed up the consensus reaction:
McAvoy didn’t try to defend himself after the loss.
“I went a little too far,” he said.
Sabres coach Lindy Ruff agreed.
“You don’t want to see a guy take a chop like that at somebody else,” Ruff said, calling the moment “raw emotion.”
McAvoy has been here before, just not often. He took a one-game ban in 2019 for an illegal check to the head on then-Blue Jacket Josh Anderson, and four games in 2023 for a head check on Oliver Ekman-Larsson. Both came in the playoffs.
Boston is already done for the year, so anything handed down here will land at the start of his 2026-27 season.
