Boston Bruins defenseman Charlie McAvoy was suspended for six regular-season games Tuesday after an in-person hearing at the league offices in New York City over his slash on Buffalo Sabres forward Zach Benson in Game 6 of their first-round playoff series on May 1. The NHL Department of Player Safety said McAvoy will serve the ban at the start of the 2026-27 season.
The penalty came after the slash was called with 1:31 left in the game, when Buffalo was ahead 4-1 and holding a 3-2 series lead. McAvoy received a five-minute major for slashing, which brought an automatic game misconduct, while Benson got a minor penalty for tripping. The league said the play was an intentional and forceful strike delivered to Benson’s body for retribution and message sending, and that it happened outside actual gameplay after the game and series outcome had already been decided.
McAvoy and the NHL Players’ Association can appeal the ban to commissioner Gary Bettman, and because the suspension is greater than five games they can take it further to a neutral arbitrator if needed. The six-game penalty is the longest handed out in the league since Minnesota Wild center Ryan Hartman drew a 10-game suspension in February 2025 for roughing Ottawa’s Tim Stutzle; that ban was later reduced to eight games on appeal.
The NHL said players are not excused from illegal acts just because an opponent committed a prior foul, a point that underscores why the late slash drew such a stiff response. The league also noted that McAvoy traveled a significant distance to reach Benson before the strike. The case adds to a disciplinary record that already included two previous suspensions, one game in 2019 for an illegal check to the head of Josh Anderson of the Columbus Blue Jackets and four games in 2023 for an illegal check to the head of Oliver Ekman-Larsson of the Florida Panthers. In 573 career NHL games, McAvoy has also been fined once.
The suspension will not affect Boston until the 2026-27 regular season, but the ruling closes the book on one of the most scrutinized moments from the Bruins-Sabres series and leaves the appeal path as the only immediate next step. A detailed look at the late-game collision has already fueled debate around the play, including in coverage of the Charlie McAvoy slash that followed the May 1 sequence.
