Tom Szczerbowski-USA TODAY Sports
The Boston Bruins might have a big problem on their hands to start the 2015-16 season. The Bruins’ official website currently lists Zdeno Chara on the Injured Reserve (IR), although the injury is retroactive to September 24th, meaning he can be activated at any time. The retroactive claim is important, because per the CBA, Chara would have been required to miss seven days if he was only listed on the IR as of today.
Puck Prose
The Bruins captain has been a staple on the blue line ever since the 2006-07 season when he was signed as a free agent. The six-foot-nine defender has consistently been one of the best blue liners in the entire National Hockey League for over a decade, having posted 40 or more points in every full season since the 2003-2004 season, posting 39 the season before, and only dropping to 20 points last season due to injuries that kept him out of the lineup for 19 games last season and lingering for the remainder of the season after he returned.
Zdeno Chara has been fortunate, due to his extreme conditioning, to have played in at least 74 games each season since the 2000-01 season (excludin the 2014-15 season), missing a total of 39 games total in that time. Chara’s age is only starting to catch up to him now it seems, as his strides are clearly slower than they’ve been in previous years. His size has never been helpful for his speed, but the fact that he’s 38 and is starting to deal with injuries for the first time in his career doesn’t bode well for the Bruins who still aim to make the playoffs. An 82 game season alone takes its toll on NHL players, adding playoff games to the mix can, and more-often-than-not does, lead to major injuries.
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The Bruins will need to hope that Zdeno Chara isn’t hurt for any extended period of time because with Dennis Seidenberg out, the remaining blueliners have very little experience between them. Adam McQuaid is the seasoned veteran on the blue-line for the Bruins right now with 283 games played, and Torey Krug has 160, putting him in second. Other than Matt Irwin, who’s played in 153 games, no defenseman on the Bruins roster has played in more than 100 games. Kevan Miller has played in 88 games, Zach Trotman in 29, Joe Morrow in 15, and Colin Miller hasn’t had a single game of NHL experience. That’s a far cry from Chara’s 1195 games played in the NHL and Seidenberg’s 697.
The Bruins might need to trade for a defenseman now to be prepared in case of an in-season injury to a veteran. Another option could be to claim a defenseman who has to pass through waivers to be sent down such as Jay Harrison or Jamie McBain.
Follow Brandon Share-Cohen on Twitter @BShareCohen to discuss all things Bruins and sports