Boston Bruins Best Defenseman Is Still Captain Zdeno Chara
Like it or not, the best defenseman the Boston Bruins have on their roster is 39-year-old Captain Zdeno Chara. Chara who has been with the team since the 2006-2007 season, has gotten slow in his “old age”. Chara, not to long ago was a top defenseman in the National Hockey League. Unfortunately, as he has aged, his play has steadily declined. He is no longer a top defender in the league, but he remains the best defenseman on a weak blueline in Boston.
No one expected the team to go out and acquire a defender better than Chara, but the issue is that they didn’t improve any of the defenseman around him. Big Z did have a bounce back season last year, and he was only one game short of his career high in games played with 80 games played. This is the highest amount of games played by the Bruins captain since the 2010-2011 Stanley Cup winning season were he played 81 of the 82 regular season games. His plus/minus went from a 0 in the 2014-2015 to a +12 in the 2015-2016 season, this improvement in play occurred without his former defensive pairing Dougie Hamilton, who was traded in the middle of last off-season.
Chara’s point totals also returned to acceptable levels with 9 goals and 28 assists, good for 37 points on the season. That total was his best since he had 40 points in the 2013-2014 season, which happened to be the last time the Bruins played in the playoffs – a series that they lost to Montreal in the second round. Zdeno Chara‘s statistics seem to have returned to a somewhat normal level last season, but for some reason he still does not pass the eye test.
Chara has gotten slower, which has caused him to get blown by opposing forwards and effectively give opposing teams a high scoring chance on the Bruins end of the ice. More often than not. this has also caused goal-tender Tuukka Rask to face uneven odds coming down at him full speed.
Chara no longer has the ability to play aggressive on offense and get back in time to play defense. Countless times last season whenever the Bruins turned over the puck, Chara couldn’t get back in time to help out Rask. Of course it is tough to stop a high scoring chance when the puck is turned over towards the neutral zone, but Chara used to be able to do that.
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Chara Slowing Down Can Still Pack A Punch
Chara has slowed down, the defense around him hasn’t gotten any better. This should cause considerable concern about the short-term success of the Boston Bruins defensively. The long-term outlook looks good with a bountiful amount of young defensive prospects but none of these potential players are going to be ready for this coming season, and chances are Chara will be gone before they are even ready for their NHL debuts.
When Chara failed to score last year the Bruins fell out of playoff spot and missed the playoffs by one game. The team looked poised for a cup run until Chara failed to record a single point in the 14 straight games towards the end of the season. This drought which ended in the loss against the New York Rangers on March 23rd shows that Chara had little in the tank towards the end of last season. Chara looked slower and slower as the season went on, this upcoming season will not be any different.
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The success of the Boston Bruins defense this season will come down to Chara. If he is able to regain his glory, the Bruins will be fine, but that is unlikely. I believe his biggest contribution to the team is in a mentoring role for younger players. Off the ice he will continue to set the tone for the team, on the ice is where he needs to play well in his own end, and play smarter not harder.