If you haven’t heard the news by now: Charlie McAvoy has signed an ATO with the Boston Bruins.
DJ Bean had a very, very good piece on the difference between an ATO, ELC and why the 10-game rule doesn’t apply to McAvoy.
The answer is because that 10-game thing doesn’t apply to everyone. It applies when talking about teenagers who are coming from the CHL, which is when the issue most commonly pops up, a la Tyler Seguin in 2010-11.
That’s the crux of this whole thing. McAvoy is coming out of college so this rule doesn’t apply to him. If McAvoy plays one game in Boston, one year of his Entry Level Contract is burned and he’s a year closer to becoming a restricted free agent.
An ATO (Amateur Try Out) is the safest thing for Boston to do with McAvoy because they’ll allow him to get the pace and speed of the pro game without taking a precious year away from that ELC. It is really two fold when you think about it.
The reason Brandon Carlo played so well at the beginning of the season was not only because he was fresh but because team’s didn’t have video on him. They didn’t know his strengths, weaknesses and tendencies. After seeing a player multiple times, teams are able to go back on film and pick all of this up.
You could be sitting there saying “Oh, well Pez that should help McAvoy in the six games left that Boston has” and I would agree with you. But is it worth burning a year of his contract for him to play six games and potentially a handful of playoff games?
My answer is no.
The same applies to Jakob Forsbacka-Karlsson who is 20 years old right now (but rumor is, he wants to go back to BU).
There’s no reason to rush McAvoy to Boston at this moment. Coaching staff has shown that they do not want to scratch a guy like Adam McQuaid and already have issues decided between Colin Miller and Jon Michael Liles. There is no point in dressing McAvoy to have him sit on Level 9.
Let him find his legs in Providence. Let him get used to the pace of the professional game. The P-Bruins have nine games left on the season and looks to be headed toward another post season. Much like Carlo last year – there’s no need to rush him. Remember, Carlo played 8 games with the Providence Bruins before starting this season as a full time player.
If I’m Don Sweeney, I resist the urge to bring McAvoy to the bigs.
For more on our thought on the Bruins playoffs, you can check out our ‘The Optional Skate’ podcast. This is easily the best DOY podcast we’ve ever done.
https://soundcloud.com/daysofyorr/the-optional-skate-ep-20-focused-thrusts-into-the-playoffs
Add The Sports Daily to your Google News Feed!
