Newflash: the Boston Bruins are piping hot at the moment.
The B’s went the entire month of February without a regulation loss and have catapulted themselves into the conversation of Stanley Cup contenders.
And with Boston playing so well, solidifying a spot in the playoffs as either the No. 2 or No. 3 seed out of the Atlantic Division, some have speculated whether coach Bruce Cassidy will begin to rest key veterans over the last 17 games of the season to gear up for a long, grueling playoff run.
Rest usually is never a bad thing. Unless you’re Zdeno Chara. The Bruins captain despises taking “unnecessary games” off, as he noted to The Athletic’s Joe McDonald on Saturday.
“I hate it,” Chara said. “I want to play every game; that’s my job. I love to play every game and taking unnecessary games off, and right before the playoffs, is the worst thing you can have.”
Playing every game, Chara says, keeps him up to speed when the playoffs roll around, whereas days off throw off his rhythm.
“Then you jump into another level of speed and emotions and I don’t like (having time off),” he said. “Nobody likes to wait seven, eight, or nine days between games. If you miss 10 days due to some minor injury, it takes you two to three games to get back into it. I personally don’t like it, and it’s my job to be in shape and my job to be ready, and I’m always doing my best to be at that level and where I need to be without getting days off.”
The towering D-man said he took time off under Claude Julien in the past and said, “To be honest, it hurt me more than it helped me.”
At 41, Chara still is the most important defensive piece to the Bruins’ back line. And while his production has diminished on the stat sheet over time, he’s still ever the reliable defenseman, and one of the few bigger bodies the Bruins have in the back to clear space out in front of Tuukka Rask.
The Bruins have monitored his ice time slightly, as he has averaged 21:00 time on ice this season, the lowest mark in Chara’s career since 1998-99, and three minutes below his career average.
Chara will be 42 on March 18, but is one of the most in-shape players in the game. If Chara says he is good to go, we imagine the Bruins don’t have much more of a choice than to believe him.
