It’s time for the Bruins to trade Zdeno Chara

The Bruins’ best option might be to trade Zdeno Chara AP

By James Murphy @MurphysLaw74

February 24, 2016

8 minutes to read

COMMENTARY

If the Boston Bruins want to truly continue their retooling they need to seriously consider moving Zdeno Chara by the NHL’s Feb. 29 trade deadline.

Yes, that’s right. It’s time to seriously consider trading Chara.

As it was reported by Joe Haggerty of CSNNE.com in October, the Bruins need to not only “gauge’’ the trade value of their captain, but let it be known that the 2009 Norris Trophy winner is available for the right price.

With the NHL trade deadline now five days away and the Bruins in the thick of the tight Eastern Conference playoff race, management has made it clear it that they would like to use the deadline to improve for the now and the future. Yeah? Well, so would those other teams they’re neck-and-neck with, or better yet, any team still in playoff contention.

With their retool at this point still resembling their play on the ice –one foot in and one foot out — it is time for Bruins general manager Don Sweeney to earn the nickname “Trader Don’’ even more than when he got it at the 2015 NHL Entry Draft after trading Milan Lucic and Dougie Hamilton.

He should do so by trying to get the best value for Chara while he still can. That won’t be easy, with Chara turning 39 on March 18 and possessing a no-movement clause, and with his play not being what it was when he dominated from 2009-2013. And, more importantly, with his remaining cap hitting $6.9 million next season and $4 million in 2017-18.

But it’s still possible.

According to one NHL executive on Thursday, the fact that it goes down to $4 million in the last year makes it more feasible and justifiable for a contender that is going for the Cup this season.

“It seems scary at first glance with his age and the money but when you really think about it, if you’re in a position to go all in right now, and may not be after this, why not really explore it?,’’ the executive said. “Chara’s not what he used to be but, he’s still one of the better defenders in the league and could be a great final piece to the puzzle.’’

It should be noted that the team this executive works for is not in that “go all in’’ mode right now, so he was not speaking for his team and himself.

Some may argue that if “Trader Don’’ emerges before the deadline wheeling and dealing, he should be trying to improve the current roster for a playoff run because the window to win another Stanley Cup is closing for the likes of Chara, goalie Tuukka Rask, defenseman Dennis Seidenberg, and forwards Patrice Bergeron, David Krejci and Brad Marchand.

They would be wrong in the opinion of this humble hockey scribe. With Steven Stamkos staying off the trade market, there is no one rumored to be on the market that could help this current Bruins squad seriously improve their chances to win their second Stanley Cup in five years. Not to mention, that Rask (28), Bergeron, (30) Krejci (29)and Marchand (27) are all still young enough to expect another cup run if Sweeney retools correctly.

A better argument is that Sweeney and team president, Cam Neely, need to approach this deadline just as they said they would, with a focus on the present and the future.

“We still would like to improve our club, but we also want to keep the picture on what we want to do, not only this year but moving forward,’’ Neely told the “Felger and Mazz’’ Show on 98.5 The Sports Hub on Feb. 11. “We’re going to make a good deal that’s going to help us for today, and for tomorrow.’’

“You have to focus on the now [with the team]. We have to focus on ‘How do we keep improving the younger players that we have in our lineup?’ and ‘How do we keep teaching them and help keep getting them better?’ ‘What are we going to do to help our club moving forward?’ Whether some thing shakes free at the deadline or in the offseason, or maybe somebody pops over the next year that we’ve drafted recently, it’s all of those things.’’

In the most recent edition of the Great American Hockey Show on CSNNE.com, Haggerty and I debated this topic. Haggerty argued that if the Bruins were to trade Chara before the deadline, they’re essentially “giving up on the season’’ and not addressing the now. That very well could be how trading your star captain and top defenseman in the middle of a playoff race could be interpreted. However, as I argued in that podcast, that’s not necessarily true.

Yes, it will definitely be seen that way if it were to happen, but is this Bruins squad really that much better with Chara in the lineup than without him? Really? Think about that for a little and while you’re doing so, consider this:

During the Bruins recent six-game road trip, Chara was on the ice for both Predators’ goals in the 2-0 loss to Nashville last Thursday. He was on the ice for all six goals allowed to Detroit in the 6-5 loss in Detroit February 14. In the Bruins’ 2-1 overtime win at Columbus Feb. 16, Chara’s penalty led to the Blue Jackets’ only goal on a penalty shot in the third period. That means that in a three-game span, Chara was on the ice for eight of nine goals allowed by him and his teammates and was partly responsible for the other goal.

Or how about this tid-bit? While the Bruins currently sit in the first wild card spot, one point out of third place in the Atlantic Division, they are there because they are 10-2-1 against the current non-playoff teams. They’re beating the teams they should. That’s great, but what happens when they reach the playoffs? They’re likely a one-and-done team, that’s what. Why? Well, the B’s are 1-3 against the last four current playoff opponents they’ve faced and are 2-6 in their last eight against current playoff opponents. They’re currently three points up on the Devils from missing the playoffs entirely.

Every team in the Eastern Conference with the exception of the Capitals and Panthers are mediocre at best. An argument could be made that the Rangers, Lightning, Islanders, and even the Penguins could emerge from that fray of mediocrity, but a better argument would be that at this point, with or without Chara, the Bruins will not.

By no means is it being suggested that Chara is to blame for the team’s problems, or meant as disrespect for what he has done here in Boston. In fact, it’s more of a compliment to what he still has to offer despite his play diminishing arguably since the 2013-14 season, maybe since the 2013 Stanley Cup Finals when he finally showed us he’s human. Most professional bird dogs (scouts, management) around the NHL would agree that, while Chara is the Bruins No.1 defenseman, he wouldn’t be the No. 1 on any of the current Stanley Cup contending teams. The number of minutes he plays for the Bruins, combined with the belief that he is battling a nagging injury or two, exposes his new found weaknesses even more.

Chara still has a very respectable 32 points this season and has always given everything he has to help this team. Since the next best thing to this current Chara the Bruins coaching staff have is an aging Dennis Seidenberg and a maturing Torey Krug, the Bruins have no choice but continuing to use Chara as if it was three seasons ago.

However, as the NHL executive above pointed out, this current edition of Chara could still help a true contender much more than he can help this Bruins squad. Let’s say the Los Angeles Kings or the Chicago Blackhawks were able to somehow get creative with their very limited cap space and make a trade for Chara work for both them and the Bruins. Would slotting ‘Big Zee’ in behind Drew Doughty in L.A. or Duncan Keith and Brent Seabrook in Chicago not alleviate many of the issues Chara is facing as a No.1 rear guard on the Boston blue line? Yes, it would, and it would also tremendously help the Kings or Blackhawks’ blue lines, giving them that final piece they may need for another Cup run.

Sweeney could even check with the Dallas Stars, who are a No.2 or 3 defenseman away from being real contenders. One may ask though, “Can the Bruins get value in a trade for a declining Chara?’’ And while that’s a valid question, they can at the very least, get more than the two second-round picks the Maple Leafs recently got for depth defenseman Roman Polak when they sent Polak and forward Nick Spaling to the Sharks Monday.

The Bruins have made it clear they would like to re-sign impending unrestricted free agent Loui Eriksson, but understand that his contract demands may not make that feasible given their salary cap situation going forward. Sweeney has already acknowledged they just may have to trade the Swedish winger who has now lit the lamp 23 times, instead of losing him for free when he hits the free agent market July 1.

Therefore, Eriksson is currently one of, if not the hottest commodity on the trade market as the Feb. 29 deadline grows closer and closer. But what if the Bruins could get a better return by trading Chara and in the process, free up the money to keep Eriksson? Or trade both Eriksson and Chara, freeing up tons of space, getting future assets in the process while allowing their young players to play more minutes in a playoff-like atmosphere down the stretch run? Also, keep in mind that the emergence of Brad Marchand as a legit sniper means that his value is escalating and he has one year left on his current contract. So if they’d like to keep Marchand, the ruins need to decide whether Eriksson’s reported desire to make $6 million per season on a five-year deal will prohibit them from signing the younger Marchand?

As my esteemed colleague and mentor Bob Snow recently reported, the implications of all seven Canadian teams missing the playoffs and the declining Canadian dollar could very well cause the salary cap to go down. In fact, both an NHL and an NHLPA source told this scribe that the cap will definitely go down, possibly by as much as $4 million. With that in mind, the Bruins need to ask themselves, is passing up this opportunity to really retool and free up cap space worth likely only 2-4 extra home games in the playoffs?

There’s still a good chance that, due to the interested teams’ cap restraints right now, a Chara trade can’t be work by the deadline, but at least the groundwork could be laid down to facilitate a trade at the Draft. Time for Don Sweeney to be ‘Trader Don’ again and truly make a path to the future for the Bruins.