The opening games of the World Cup should have the Boston Bruins concerned about Zdeno Chara.
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The Boston Bruins organization still haves faith in their captain (and number one defenseman) Zdeno Chara. The 39-year old Slovak blueliner is about to start his eleventh season with the Black and Gold, and still has the full confidence of Cam Neely and company.
That faith seems to be more and more misplaced though. Team Europe lost both of their preview games, and their biggest liability has been the team’s lack of speed. It’s unlikely that will change when the tournament starts five days from now.
Zdeno Chara looked slow compared to the other players in the Team Europe/Team North America preview game. Team North America had their way with their European counterparts. Chara wasn’t able to keep up with the younger, faster players and watching these games should set off a few warning lights at the TD Garden.
Chara is 39 years old. His career is certainly on the downturn, and he’s become less and less durable these last few seasons. His lack of speed was a serious liability to the B’s last year. Chara and the overall weakness of the blueline was the biggest reason why the Boston Bruins failed to make the playoffs these last two years.
The Bruins front office refuses to see the writing on the wall. While they have acknowledged that the B’s could use a top-four defenseman, they didn’t try hard enough to get one. So, they’ll be going into the 2016-17 relying heavily on Chara to be their No. 1 defender.
It doesn’t sound good for the Bruins this year. Still, the Bruins might see what is in front of them and find the right balance to use Chara properly this season.
The Bruins could pull Chara off special teams all together in order to reduce his overall minutes. It’s possible that Adam McQuaid, Colin Miller, or John-Michael Liles can step up to the plate and prove (just like Torey Krug did last season) that they can play top-four minutes this year. If that happens, then the B’s will be able to shave an extra couple of minutes off Chara’s ice time.
If the Bruins can find the right balance for Zdeno Chara, then the season will not be the disaster so many of the Boston media are predicting. If the Bruins continue to misuse their aging captain, then it could be more of the same for the Black and Gold next season.