Zdeno Chara will leave quite the hole (literally and figuratively) on the Boston Bruins blue line this season.
The defenseman signed a one-year deal with the Washington Capitals on Wednesday, officially marking the end of his 14-year career in a Spoked-B jersey.
Chara leaves more than just his size behind, though. Boston will need to fill the leadership void the 43-year-old had on his team, especially since he served as the captain.
General manager Don Sweeney isn't quite sure just how that will be replaced, but he believes the Bruins still have a "strong leadership core."
"It’s a little bit to be determined. I do believe we have as strong leadership core still in place and we have other players that would like to assume a larger responsibility in that, on and off the ice," he said during a video conference Thursday. "And they have to grow into that. You have to – that’s a learned, that’s not a born in ability in my opinion. And we’re going to allow for some of that latitude. But we have a lot of strong guys that are looking to continue the success they’ve previously had, pass it on to the next cast of players that we hope to become core, integral parts of this hockey club, and we’ll move forward. A player like Craig Smith, coming from another organization, things that he can bring to the table that hopefully our club can continue to improve upon."
But what about that intimidation factor Chara brought each and every game?
"Well, it’s 6-foot-9 and 250 (pounds), it’s fairly unique to our sport. I’m not going to downplay it in any regard. He’s been a physical force on and off the ice for our hockey club and we’ll have to have some players assume that mantle," Sweeney said. "It won’t be overnight and it’ll have to be by committee. We certainly have players that aspire to play more of a physical role and the nature to get an opportunity to provide that to our hockey club. I think it’s part of the identity of our hockey club that needs to be continued and I’m sure our players will address it in the manner that we need to. And we have to have that. We have to maintain that identity as a hockey club and being very, very difficult to play against."
Boston does have a lot of depth on the blue line, and now those guys will get a chance to show what they've got when the season begins Jan. 14.
