Big update on Charlie McAvoy ahead of big game against Toronto.

The Boston Bruins may be getting a big boost to their line up on Saturday night.

The Bruins have been without star defenseman Charlie McAvoy for 7 consecutive games now due to a lingering foot infection that appeared to take a turn for the worst when the Bruins were off over the Christmas holidays and tonight's game against the Toronto Maple Leafs would mark the 8th straight game McAvoy would miss a result of the infection. The infection stems from a blocked shot that McAvoy executed against the Montreal Canadiens, splitting his foot open in the process. As if that injury alone was not gruesome enough it would later become infected leaving McAvoy with this current health issue. Obviously McAvoy is a huge part of what the Bruins do on both sides of the ice and his continued absence would be a big blow for such a big game, but signs appear to point to a return this evening for McAvoy.

"It’s trending that way," said head coach Bruce Cassidy when asked about a potential return for McAvoy tonight. "We’ll officially announce it tomorrow after getting through pregame skate. Then, the obvious question is who comes out? But until he’s officially in I don’t want to go down that road,." “He goes in on the right side, and it probably comes down to Grizz and Moore on the left side. Then we can balance it with three left [shots] and three right [shots]. It’s certainly looking like [McAvoy] will get in."

Cassidy is of course referring to defensemen Matt Grzelcyk and John Moore when he mentions players that would be likely to come out of the line up if McAvoy were inserted back into the game this evening. Additionally according to Boston Bruins insider Joe Haggerty it appears as if McAvoy will return to the team's top defensive pairing immediately if Friday's practice is any indication of where Boston Bruins head coach Bruce Cassidy wants to go with things. McAvoy was paired up with teammate and Bruins captain Zdeno Chara on Friday while Torey Krug and Brandon Carlo teamed up for the team's second pairing and the aforementioned Matt Grzelcyk and Kevan Miller round off the team's third pairing. Although these were only used in practice, this would also appear to indicate that John Moore is more likely of the two men to come out of the line up tonight.

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