Given the current state of their defense there is perhaps no player that is more important to the Boston Bruins than defenseman Zdeno Chara. Unfortunately for the Bruins, Chara had to leave Thursday's preseason game against the New York Rangers early in the first period with what the team is calling an "upper body injury."
It's not entirely clear what happened to Chara that resulted in the injury but he was on the receiving end of a couple of hits, including one from Ryan Bourque along the boards.
The Bruins offered no immediate update on his status other than to say he would not return to the game. It's possible the team is just being cautious considering it's a preseason game and they're going to need Chara to be healthy for the regular season.
Chara, 38, missed 19 games for the Bruins due to injury a year ago and is probably going to have to carry an even heavier workload than he has in recent years if the Bruins are going to return to the playoffs. The Bruins defense has been dismantled over the past two years due to trades and injury, losing both Johnny Boychuk and Dougie Hamilton (with nothing coming back to the NHL roster at the moment) in trades.
Earlier this week it was announced that veteran Dennis Seidenberg is going to be sidelined for eight weeks after he underwent surgery on Thursday.
