Was Sunday night the last time we’ll see Zdeno Chara play an NHL game?
The now-44-year-old defenseman isn’t quite ready to answer that question just yet. After he and the Capitals were eliminated by his former team, the Bruins, in five games, Chara met with reporters via Zoom Tuesday for his end-of-season press conference.
Chara is set to be an unrestricted free agent for a second year in a row after signing a one-year deal with Washington last offseason. He said he will “take a few days to talk to my family and make decisions after.”
“Obviously it’s not always a decision that I can make myself,” Chara said. “Like I said, sometimes there are things in life that you have to realize. I have to obviously have those conversations with my wife and my children and see where we’re going to be the next few days, few weeks. After those conversations, I’ll probably let those emotions settle in and see where I’m at.”
Chara’s family stayed in Boston during this season while he was playing with the Capitals. He said he will be returning to Boston in the next couple days and is looking forward to having more time with them.
“Looking forward to seeing my family, my kids again every day,” Chara said. “Definitely that would be a factor going into the decision I’ll be making in the future.”
Chara was used in more of a third-pairing role for Washington this season. He played all but one game in the regular season and then played all five playoff games. After averaging 18:19 per game in the regular season, he saw his minutes cut to 16:16 in the playoffs as Capitals coach Peter Laviolette kept him away from the Bruins’ top offensive players. Chara said he still felt “great” physically this season.
A lot was made of Chara going through the handshake line at the end of the series and seeing so many of his former teammates and coaches. He was asked what that moment was like for him.
“At that point, it’s obviously a disappointing feeling,” Chara said. “I think we all share the same feeling of being disappointed by being eliminated. But you pay your share of respect to your opponent, so obviously congratulated all the Boston Bruins players and coaches for moving on.”
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