This is how good Charlie McAvoy already is and will become. When asked who he’d take as an all-situations defenseman over McAvoy for the next decade, only one name came quickly to one NHL coach’s tongue: Seth Jones.



After that, there weren’t many other players in the conversation.



Drew Doughty is 30 years old. So is Alex Pietrangelo. Erik Karlsson, Roman Josi and Victor Hedman are 29.



So while those veterans are currently some of the top all-around defensemen, they should be in rocking chairs by the time McAvoy, 22, logs another decade in the NHL. Perhaps by then, McAvoy will have more company in what is currently a two-man club.



The 2016 first-rounder has recently smashed his way into another tier in his three-zone game. Consider all the plays McAvoy made to set up Brad Marchand’s tap-in goal against Dallas on Feb. 27: keeping the puck in at the right-side wall, identifying the situation to go on the attack, rotating down low...