The Boston Bruins’ most current captain has had a long career with the Black and Gold. The 39-year old Zdeno Chara is reaching the end the of his career, and for the last two seasons has been the leader of a team that hasn’t made the playoffs. The Bruins have asked a lot of their captains, but this year the B’s front office expected a bit too much from the Slovakian blueliner.
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Zdeno Chara – Defenseman
Games Played: 80
Goals/Assists/Points: 9/28/37 (one power play and three game winning goals)
Time is catching up with the Bruins captain. Chara has played in 1,275 NHL games. At 39, the Bruins front office still expect Chara to play as a 25-year old. The Bruins traded away the future of their blueline in the last few years, moving Johnny Boychuk and not finding a way to come to terms with Dougie Hamilton. Worse still, the organization didn’t make any of the necessary moves/trades to replace two top-four defensemen. Now those bad calls are coming back to hurt the B’s in earnest, and it proved that Chara’s time in the league is coming to a close.
Defense was the biggest issue that hurt the B’s this season. The Boston Bruins finished 19th in goals-against this season, letting in 2.8 goals per game. At the start of the season, only Chara and Dennis Seidenberg were considered to be top-four defensemen. At the end of the season, it looked like that Chara was capable of middle-pair work at best. Chara has slowed down, and his lack of speed in transition found Chara being blown past by younger and faster players.
Big Z’s numbers weren’t exactly terrible though. He nearly had a 40-point season. His plus/minus of +12 good enough to tie for fourth on the team (with Patrice Bergeron). The Bruins probably got more than they could reasonably expect from a 39-year old player that is getting weighed down by a career full of injuries. The problem was that the B’s still see the 2011 Chara when they should be looking towards the future.
Chara is still under contract to the B’s until the end of the 2017-18 season. Maybe the B’s can find a way to get him to waive his no-trade clause (thanks again for that Peter Chiarelli) to move him for an acceptable draft pick and/or a prospect in the offsesaon. Chara can still contribute to the Bruins or any other NHL club, but not like he used to.
Final Grade: C+