If you had to pick a single thing the Bruins don’t need, it’d be another injury on defense. Their blue line was a little questionable to start, then they found out that Dennis Seidenberg will miss eight weeks.
Now, Zdeno Chara has been injured.
The 38-year-old defender left Thursday’s preseason match against the New York Rangers with an upper body injury after taking a hit from Ryan Bourque. The team announced during the game that he would not be returning to the game, though there’s no clarification if he’s being held out because of the severity of the injury or the meaninglessness of the game.
UPDATE: Zdeno Chara out with an upper-body injury, will not return. ^BB
— Boston Bruins (@NHLBruins) September 24, 2015
Losing Seidenberg had incoming GM Don Sweeney saying that he’s considering trading for a defenseman. If Chara is out for any significant amount of time, he may have to stop thinking and start doing.
Chara missed time last season with an injury and he’ll be relied on even more this season with the absence of Johnny Boychuk still hurting the blue line and the trade of Dougie Hamilton giving the team fewer replacement options.
RELATED: How Will the Boston Bruins Cope Without Dennis Seidenberg?