Zdeno Chara is gone. The longtime Bruins captain is heading to the Washington Capitals, a team Boston will face eight times this season. Based on the future Hall of Famer’s statement and how small his new contract is (one year, $795,000), Don Sweeney, Cam Neely and the Bruins organization are OK with that.
“My family and I have been so fortunate to call the great city of Boston our home for over 14 years,” begins a lengthy statement Chara posted to Instagram. “Recently, The Boston Bruins have informed me that they plan to move forward with their many younger and talented players and I respect their decision. Unfortunately, my time as the proud Captain of the Bruins has come to an end.”
It’s that second sentence that is the key. This was the Bruins’ decision. Chara made it clear, beginning right after the season, that he wanted to keep playing, and wanted to keep playing in Boston, the city that has been his home since 2006, when he became the best and most important free agent signing in Bruins history.
The Bruins easily could have afforded to keep Chara, and it certainly seems like he still could have cracked their lineup. Boston also lost Torey Krug from the left side of its defense this offseason, and as of now has not signed anyone to replace those two mainstays.
But they didn’t want to pay him even $795,000, and they didn’t want him in their lineup. They wanted to move on. They wanted to rip off the band-aid, turn over their defense to younger players, and turn over their captaincy to Patrice Bergeron.
They better hope it works out, because the potential is certainly there for this to backfire.
It remains unclear what, exactly, the Bruins’ plan is on defense. Get younger, sure. But it’s impossible to have much confidence in that youth beyond the guys we’ve already seen handle regular NHL minutes: Charlie McAvoy, Matt Grzelcyk and Brandon Carlo.
Grzelcyk certainly seems ready to move into a top-four role, but as the only returning left-shot regular, it appears as of now that he’s going to have to move all the way up to a top-pairing role alongside McAvoy.
After that, well… There’s still veteran John Moore, whom the Bruins are paying $2.75 million for each of the next three season but who hasn’t been able to earn regular playing time. There’s Jeremy Lauzon, who was fine in a third-pairing role last season but who has limited upside.
There’s 2015 first-round pick Jakub Zboril, who seemed to be trending towards bust status and who has played just two NHL games to this point, but who played well in Providence last season and will certainly get an opportunity with Boston now.
There’s 2017 first-round pick Urho Vaakanainen, who, like Zboril, has taken longer to develop than the Bruins probably hoped, but who will also at least get a chance to show if he’s ready.
And there’s Kevan Miller, a right shot who has played on the left at times in the past. The 33-year-old veteran hasn’t played since April 2019 due to a broken kneecap, but -- and this is important to note -- the Bruins prioritized signing him over Chara, doing so on the first day of free agency and for $1.25 million, or $455,000 more than Chara will make this season.
It is not hard to envision the Bruins’ defense struggling mightily this season. It is not hard to envision it being their downfall.
It is also not hard to envision Chara helping a Capitals team that was looking to stabilize its defense, that obviously believes he has more left in the tank than the Bruins do, and that Boston will have to compete with all season long and possibly in the first two rounds of the playoffs.
The end of the Chara era was always going to sting. He, along with Marc Savard, was the signing that changed everything for the mid-2000s Bruins. It signaled a new direction and new commitment to winning. He set a new tone and culture as the team’s captain from Day 1, one that ushered in a new era of winning and high expectations that peaked with a Stanley Cup in 2011, Boston's first in 39 years.
The vast majority of players, young and old, who have come through Boston over the last decade-plus have spoken fondly of their time here and of the Bruins’ locker room. More than a few have taken discounts to stay. That flowed from Chara’s leadership at the top.
He was the menacing beast who struck fear into opponents with his size, strength, wide-eyed death stare and the knowledge that he could punch out pretty much anyone he wanted if and when he decided to drop the gloves. He was the tough-beyond-belief towering figure who added to his legend by playing through a broken jaw in the 2019 Stanley Cup Final.
He was also the kind soul who dressed up as a pink bunny to visit Boston Children’s Hospital on Halloween, who helped numerous charities every year both publicly and privately, and who waxed poetic about nature and birds on his Instagram.
He finishes his Bruins career sixth all-time in games played for the franchise. He will one day go into the Hockey Hall of Fame as a Bruin, and he will one day return to TD Garden to have his No. 33 raised to the rafters. He has meant too much for this end not to sting.
But it could sting a lot more if the worst-case scenario plays out for the Bruins -- if their patchwork defense can’t get the job done while Chara and his new team conquer the East Division and go on to compete for a Cup.
It’s a sight Boston fans are becoming accustomed to: Mookie Betts helping the Dodgers win a World Series while the Red Sox struggle to their worst record since 1965. Tom Brady playing like a Pro Bowler and leading the Buccaneers to their first playoff appearance since 2007 while the Patriots get some of the worst quarterback play in the league and limp to their first losing season in 20 years.
Obviously, Chara is not in his prime like Betts, and he is not as close to the top of his position as Brady is. But it is hard to ignore the similarities in seeing another Boston legend depart, and this one not to the other side of the country or to a different conference, but to a division rival.
The Red Sox and Patriots are learning that past success only buys you so much benefit of the doubt. Boston fans are not known for their patience, and even Bill Belichick is now finding himself questioned, criticized and doubted after just one down season.
Sweeney, Neely and company will be, too, if whatever their plan is doesn’t work out.