Charlie McAvoy offered an in person hearing by Player Safety

[Dude]

I think him laughing at them when they retaliate drives them even crazier.

[Night Train]

When he enters the office, smash a stick across his back. 

[Taro T]

1 hour ago, Archie Lee said:

Benson definitely plays to the edge. Most often at the net, where he borderline slashes the goalie a split second after the puck is covered. I think he is more of an irritating rat who has no fear of getting punched or slashed, than he is dirty. I think it is this lack of fear that drives other teams crazy. He will do something and then get cross-checked or punched, and then just do the thing again. I’ve yet to see Benson do anything unhinged out of anger (like McAvoy); his actions do always seem to be calculated.

Yes, he's Tikkanen.

Guys wanted to kill him for a myriad of reasons: he never stopped chirping them, often in his own amalgam of Finnish, English, Swedish, and something else (French? Russian?); he was never above giving a little slash to a guy's ankle as he went by or the like; he was relentless, he never took a shift off; AND he was actually a very good (though not great) player, he had PPG seasons and was well above a PPG in the playoffs on at least 3 occassions.

THAT is EXACTLY what Benson seems to be becoming.  The one difference is Tikkanen almost never dropped the gloves (a very European trait); whereas the good ol' Western Canadian boy has no hesitation to drop 'em when the time is appropriate.  Hope he ends up Esa and not Marchand.  Both were integral components of Cup winners.  But 1 was kind of fun to watch drive opponents crazy and the other is a rat faced git playing for a team who's calling card is rats thrown on the ice.

[French Collection]

30 minutes ago, Taro T said:

Yes, he's Tikkanen.

Guys wanted to kill him for a myriad of reasons: he never stopped chirping them, often in his own amalgam of Finnish, English, Swedish, and something else (French? Russian?); he was never above giving a little slash to a guy's ankle as he went by or the like; he was relentless, he never took a shift off; AND he was actually a very good (though not great) player, he had PPG seasons and was well above a PPG in the playoffs on at least 3 occassions.

THAT is EXACTLY what Benson seems to be becoming.  The one difference is Tikkanen almost never dropped the gloves (a very European trait); whereas the good ol' Western Canadian boy has no hesitation to drop 'em when the time is appropriate.  Hope he ends up Esa and not Marchand.  Both were integral components of Cup winners.  But 1 was kind of fun to watch drive opponents crazy and the other is a rat faced git playing for a team who's calling card is rats thrown on the ice.

That is a good comparable. He Tikked a lot of guys off.

Guys would chase him around and forget about Gretzky, Messier, Kurri, Anderson and Coffey.

He could play on both special teams and in a top 6 role.

I think his chirping mish-mash of languages was his go to because I remember not understanding anything he said during interviews.

[K-9]

46 minutes ago, Taro T said:

Yes, he's Tikkanen.

Guys wanted to kill him for a myriad of reasons: he never stopped chirping them, often in his own amalgam of Finnish, English, Swedish, and something else (French? Russian?); he was never above giving a little slash to a guy's ankle as he went by or the like; he was relentless, he never took a shift off; AND he was actually a very good (though not great) player, he had PPG seasons and was well above a PPG in the playoffs on at least 3 occassions.

THAT is EXACTLY what Benson seems to be becoming.  The one difference is Tikkanen almost never dropped the gloves (a very European trait); whereas the good ol' Western Canadian boy has no hesitation to drop 'em when the time is appropriate.  Hope he ends up Esa and not Marchand.  Both were integral components of Cup winners.  But 1 was kind of fun to watch drive opponents crazy and the other is a rat faced git playing for a team who's calling card is rats thrown on the ice.

Thank you for this apt comparison because the Marchand comparisons are absurd. Marchand developed his reputation as a dirty player in junior hockey for crissake, something he admitted to having to do in order to get noticed by pro scouts, whereas Benson was an elite junior player whose skillset were well known by talent evaluators. Marchand has been suspended eight times, with his first suspension coming in his rookie year; Benson hasn’t received so much as a warning. Let me know when Benson licks somebody’s face. 

Just because Benson played a tough, gritty, and retaliatory game in the first round doesn’t make him a Marchand. Marchand initiated, Benny retaliated. There’s a huge difference. 

[Jorcus]

2 hours ago, Archie Lee said:

Benson definitely plays to the edge. Most often at the net, where he borderline slashes the goalie a split second after the puck is covered. I think he is more of an irritating rat who has no fear of getting punched or slashed, than he is dirty. I think it is this lack of fear that drives other teams crazy. He will do something and then get cross-checked or punched, and then just do the thing again. I’ve yet to see Benson do anything unhinged out of anger (like McAvoy); his actions do always seem to be calculated.

You got that right. He seems to enjoy the abuse to cause chaos. It's all fun until the day it is not. He is not indestructible. He has to be careful  otherwise he will be asking for advice from Norris or Kulich what it is like to live on long term IR. One thing that bothers other players about Benson is that he plays low to the ice. It's not just because he is somewhat short but often plays bent over or on the ice, (sometimes intentionally). He takes a lot of head shots intentional or otherwise because of it. He is becoming more of a hitting target because some teams realize the best way to kill a play is to kill the playmaker not the shooter. You have to admire his willingness to sell out and this is the time of year to do it. Just hope he can hold up. 

[bg17]

 

[Cranky old man]

I guess what really ticked Charlie off was the audacity of a twenty year old treating his elders with such disrespect.  

[jad1]

Can we take a minute to recognize how utterly terrible McAvoy was in that game? 

On the Sabres first goal, he was one of the defensive pair who completely lost Tuch when Dahlin carried the puck down low. 

On the third Sabres goal, he and Pastrnak lost the rink-length race to the puck with Doan, and instead of pealing off to protect the front of the net, he chose to deliver an elbow to Doan's head, leaving Benson all alone.

On the empty netter, he tackled Dahlin at the Sabres blue line, ignoring the puck and Norris, who retrieved the puck and netted the center ice shot.

And with a minute-and-a-half left in the game, with his team trailing by 3 (thanks in large part due to his poor play), he draws a penalty on Benson, and then immediately nullified the power play with a rage-induced slash.

It's hard to find an example of a guy who played more stupidly or selfishly than McAvoy did in game 6. And he's the co-captain Bruins and performed this way in an elimination game.

So suspend this prick. Not only for the intent to injure Benson (and the hit on Doan), but also for the way he totally let his team down in their most important game of their season.

[K-9]

25 minutes ago, bg17 said:

 

And anyone who thinks Benny and others on the bench didn’t take notice of that is mistaken. McAvoy earned his slewfoot. 

[Punch]

28 minutes ago, bg17 said:

 

The sheer audacity of this dude, my goodness. Apparently, he broke his hand in Game 2. I'm impressed he was able to clutch pearls.

[Apollo]

16 minutes ago, jad1 said:

Can we take a minute to recognize how utterly terrible McAvoy was in that game? 

On the Sabres first goal, he was one of the defensive pair who completely lost Tuch when Dahlin carried the puck down low. 

On the third Sabres goal, he and Pastrnak lost the rink-length race to the puck with Doan, and instead of pealing off to protect the front of the net, he chose to deliver an elbow to Doan's head, leaving Benson all alone.

On the empty netter, he tackled Dahlin at the Sabres blue line, ignoring the puck and Norris, who retrieved the puck and netted the center ice shot.

And with a minute-and-a-half left in the game, with his team trailing by 3 (thanks in large part due to his poor play), he draws a penalty on Benson, and then immediately nullified the power play with a rage-induced slash.

It's hard to find an example of a guy who played more stupidly or selfishly than McAvoy did in game 6. And he's the co-captain Bruins and performed this way in an elimination game.

So suspend this prick. Not only for the intent to injure Benson (and the hit on Doan), but also for the way he totally let his team down in their most important game of their season.

He flipped Dahlin on the Norris goal. 

[FrenchConnection44]

It’s not just the slash. The hit on Doan was bad and he deserved to be tripped by Benson. He is acting like everything else was fine. So are the media. They are ignoring that forearm to the head. Which was uncalled for and could have given him a concussion. The Sabres should complain to the league about that. 

[SabreFinn]

3 hours ago, Taro T said:

Yes, he's Tikkanen.

Guys wanted to kill him for a myriad of reasons: he never stopped chirping them, often in his own amalgam of Finnish, English, Swedish, and something else (French? Russian?); he was never above giving a little slash to a guy's ankle as he went by or the like; he was relentless, he never took a shift off; AND he was actually a very good (though not great) player, he had PPG seasons and was well above a PPG in the playoffs on at least 3 occassions.

THAT is EXACTLY what Benson seems to be becoming.  The one difference is Tikkanen almost never dropped the gloves (a very European trait); whereas the good ol' Western Canadian boy has no hesitation to drop 'em when the time is appropriate.  Hope he ends up Esa and not Marchand.  Both were integral components of Cup winners.  But 1 was kind of fun to watch drive opponents crazy and the other is a rat faced git playing for a team who's calling card is rats thrown on the ice.

Oh man, that is one heck of a comparison. The Tikk-talk could drive players to madness. Players woke up in the middle of the night with nightmares of him, there was players that really did that.  I can think there might be such reactions to Benson also.  But I hope he is not as "special" as Tikkanen was. Tikkanen is not the smartest and has got a sentence in court for unpaid taxes.

[Taro T]

24 minutes ago, SabreFinn said:

Oh man, that is one heck of a comparison. The Tikk-talk could drive players to madness. Players woke up in the middle of the night with nightmares of him, there was players that really did that.  I can think there might be such reactions to Benson also.  But I hope he is not as "special" as Tikkanen was. Tikkanen is not the smartest and has got a sentence in court for unpaid taxes.

Interesting.  Did not know that Tikkanen had tax issues.  That's too bad.  Never an Euler or Rags fan, but Esa was always one of my favorite players to watch.  He drove folks absolutely insane at a time when guys WOULD retaliate and pretty much get away with the retaliation.

[K-9]

39 minutes ago, SabreFinn said:

Oh man, that is one heck of a comparison. The Tikk-talk could drive players to madness. Players woke up in the middle of the night with nightmares of him, there was players that really did that.  I can think there might be such reactions to Benson also.  But I hope he is not as "special" as Tikkanen was. Tikkanen is not the smartest and has got a sentence in court for unpaid taxes.

Not to worry. Benny has advanced hockey awareness, especially for a 20 year old. 

[Wyldnwoody44]

Mcavoy did call out Dops earlier in the year, I'm hoping there's some payback from old Parros because of it. 

10 games.... Don't be a d*ck. 

[bob_sauve28]

23 hours ago, Cranky old man said:

I guess what really ticked Charlie off was the audacity of a twenty year old treating his elders with such disrespect.  

He was embarrassed before he hit the ice and went flailing into the boards out of control, lol 

It was pretty funny, actually 🤣

[Pimlach]

On 5/3/2026 at 12:12 PM, K-9 said:

And anyone who thinks Benny and others on the bench didn’t take notice of that is mistaken. McAvoy earned his slewfoot. 

McAvoy also flipped Dahlin onto his backside away from play.  And finally they head cross-check to Doan. 

McAvoy played a terrible game 6 and he knows it.  

59 minutes ago, Wyldnwoody44 said:

Mcavoy did call out Dops earlier in the year, I'm hoping there's some payback from old Parros because of it. 

10 games.... Don't be a d*ck. 

who is Dops?  

[steveoath]

2 minutes ago, Pimlach said:

McAvoy also flipped Dahlin onto his backside away from play.  And finally they head cross-check to Doan. 

McAvoy played a terrible game 6 and he knows it.  

who is Dops?  

Department of player safety

[Eleven]

I really wish this was public.

Also, I have sat upon the disciplinary couch at NHLHQ.

[Weave]

25 minutes ago, Eleven said:

I really wish this was public.

Also, I have sat upon the disciplinary couch at NHLHQ.

“Sat”.  Is that like the interview couches you’ve “sat” upon?

[Eleven]

9 minutes ago, Weave said:

“Sat”.  Is that like the interview couches you’ve “sat” upon?

It's not like chz's casting couch if that's what you're asking.

[Wyldnwoody44]

1 hour ago, Pimlach said:

 

who is Dops?  

Department of player safety 

[shrader]

30 minutes ago, Eleven said:

It's not like chz's casting couch if that's what you're asking.

With the type of people typically called into that office, I just assume it was soaked in drool.