It's going to be a while before we see the Bruins at anything close to 100%. After announcing last week that Brad Marchand is set to miss six months after double hip surgery, the Bruins issued three more injury updates on Friday, all for defensemen.
The biggest news here is that Charlie McAvoy will miss approximately six months after undergoing a left shoulder arthroscopic stabilization procedure at Mass General on Friday. While McAvoy had gotten banged up a couple times late in the season and in the playoffs, there had previously not been any indication that he was in line for a major offseason surgery.
The Bruins will now be without arguably their two best players -- Marchand and McAvoy -- for roughly the first two months of the season, with both looking at a late November or early December return.
They also won't have Matt Grzelcyk to start the season, although that was at least expected. Grzelcyk underwent a right shoulder open stabilization procedure on Friday and will miss approximately five months. That puts his timeline for a return at some time in early November. Grzelcyk had been playing through a shoulder injury for the last several months of the season.
Mike Reilly also underwent surgery on Friday -- a right ankle tendon repair and removal of bone fragments. His recovery time is approximately three months, so he should be back for the start of the season.
Barring another unforeseen surgery or an offseason trade, the Bruins' opening night defense corps could be Hampus Lindholm, Brandon Carlo, Reilly, Derek Forbort, Connor Clifton and Jakub Zboril. There had been a common thought that the Bruins would trade a defenseman this offseason -- likely Reilly or Grzelcyk -- but all these surgeries may lead them to just keep the current group in place.
The Bruins continue to wait for their biggest piece of offseason news, which is Patrice Bergeron's decision on whether to retire or return for a 19th season. There also remains the possibility, however slim, that David Krejci decides to return.