McAvoy spent a large part of the offseason in Boston, working out at his old stomping grounds at Boston University and the B's practice facility in Brighton, as well as playing a few games in the Summer Pro League down in Foxborough.
"I went home [to Long Island] for a couple of weeks to see my family and friends, but for the most part, I was living here in Boston and working out at BU and skating here at Warrior…[the summer] tends to go pretty quick," said McAvoy.
"I think it was a very successful summer as far as working out and using the time to recover, and now it's coming close and I'm ready to go."
The next step for McAvoy will be participating in the Prospects Challenge in Buffalo, which is part of Bruins Rookie Camp. The B's will play three games during the tournament, one each against prospects from the Buffalo Sabres, New Jersey Devils and Pittsburgh Penguins.
"I think it just kind of allows everybody to get thrown into the fire there and hit the ground running, really," said McAvoy. "There's not really much you can do in the offseason to kind of emulate game circumstances and game pace, so I think the best way to get that back is to just play.
"I think this is a good opportunity to go to the rookie camp, play a couple of games, get my game pace back and then when training camp comes along and we're playing real training camp preseason games, hopefully I'll be ahead of the pace there."
In the end, McAvoy hopes everything he has built since his stellar postseason debut translates into a spot in the Bruins lineup on Oct. 5 against Nashville.
"I think pulling from last year's experience, a couple of things that I learned, as far as the game that I want to play, the game that I think allows me to have success," said McAvoy.
"I can hopefully just pick up where I left off, and play the way that I need to play to help the team and just do everything I can to put myself in a great spot to be on that opening night roster."
NOTE:Friday's captain's practice roster included forwards Matt Beleskey, Patrice Bergeron, Jesse Gabrielle, Jakob Forsbacka Karlsson, and Riley Nash; defensemen Brandon Carlo, Matt Grzelcyk, Emil Johansson, Torey Krug, Jeremy Lauzon, McAvoy, Adam McQuaid, and Kevan Miller; and goalie Malcolm Subban.