When the Boston Bruins take the ice Saturday against the Washington Capitals at Capital One Arena, much of the team will be playing against a former teammate.
Zdeno Chara, as we're certain you've heard by now, signed with the Capitals in the offseason after spending 14 years in Boston.
At 6-foot-9, he already was going to be difficult to be replaced on the blue line. But couple that with being captain, a veteran leader on and off the ice, and an overall good teammate, it makes it that much harder.
For Charlie McAvoy, this will be his first season without the 43-year-old alongside him, something that certainly will be weird.
"It's gonna be weird," he told reporters Wednesday after practice. "It's gonna be really weird seeing him on the other side of the ice. I don't know if that's gonna be something I'll really be kind of able to get over or seeing him in a Capitals jersey. ... I think his presence is pretty irreplaceable, completely irreplaceable. The magnitude of who he is as a player and a person, people like him don't come around every day. That is obviously different, not having him here."
Still, McAvoy knows the B's have the belief in themselves to be able to compete, and are able to push one another on and off the ice.
"We lean on each other here. We have belief in ourselves, whether you're in or out of the lineup," he said. "We all compete every day and push each other to the best that we can be. And I think that's something that really helps us. That belief is everything, that confidence in each other to go out and get the job done is something that we have here. It's part of our culture."
For now, though, McAvoy and the rest of the Bruins keep their focus on the Pittsburgh Penguins and look to extend their win streak to four games Thursday night at TD Garden.
