The Boston Bruins were officially eliminated from the playoffs on Monday night. After a double overtime loss to the Tampa Bay Lightning, the Bruins said goodbye on the heels of a disappointing 4-1 series loss and a postseason that didn’t nearly meet team and management expectations.
There will be a number of questions for the team now, the biggest of which might be how the Presidents’ Trophy winners seemed to non-Presidents’ Trophy-like during the round robin games and this series. Add to that what is in store for Tuukka Rask, what’s next for Jake Debrusk and where will Torey Krug land, and you have a busy offseason for the organization.
It appears the Bruins have another possible question that only Zdeno Chara can answer. Based on comments he made after the loss, the veteran defenseman could be considering retirement.
Chara Left The Idea of Retirement Out There
In comments to reporters Monday evening, Chara admitted he’s considering hanging things up, but he hasn’t made his decision official just yet. “I haven’t made that decision. I obviously just finished the game and I’m going to be open minded”, he said.
Obviously, that’s not a retirement announcement. It’s also certainly not a bold statement he’ll return. At 43 years old, it would be hard not to blame him if he decided to call it a career.
His coach, Bruce Cassidy added that he wasn’t prepared to speculate on Chara’s future.”Those are decisions that will be made by the player and management going forward,” the coach said. “I’ve said all along, grateful to have an opportunity to coach Zee. It was early in my NHL career, so to speak, later in his playing career. He helped me a lot.”
Chara is a pending unrestricted free agent and has been signing one-year contracts with the Bruins over the past two seasons. This season will be a bit different. Every team will be pinching pennies, the Bruins too. While Chara isn’t making huge money at a $2 million cap hit plus performance bonuses, it’s unclear if he’ll want to take less. It’s also not clear if the Bruins can afford to match last year’s totals.
It was said during the handshake line at the end of the game last night that it was probably the last time he’d be in a Bruins uniform.
Chara Commented on Sacrifices
The defenseman did talk about how proud he was of the team and the sacrifices made in a crazy season. Saying they were a committed group, he vowed that the team would be eager to get back to where we left off at some point in March. Do those sacrifices include financial ones? Time will tell.
Cassidy said. “I love both those guys and what they mean to the Boston Bruins and hopefully what they’ll continue to mean for the Boston Bruins.” He’s right in that if Chara hangs it up, it will be a sad day.
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