Chara - on the decline?

gryoung

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Chara looked pretty bad last night and has been spotty since he returned from injury. Is his play this season a direct result of the injury (where he's at 60 - 70 percent and will be for the rest of this season), or is it due to his age/miles on his body?

The answer is probably "both" - which raises the question of his contract. If he continues on a downward spiral, what's the impact to the B's from both salary cap and personnel perspectives?
 

IdiotKicker

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Nov 21, 2005
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Chara's contract, while large, isn't going to be what hamstrings the Bruins going forward. While the cap is going to be tight next year with some of the RFA guys they need to bring back, once you get beyond that it's much cleaner...provided that Chiarelli or whoever is in charge at that point is smart about guys like Kelly, Eriksson, and Lucic and the ability to potentially replace them at lower cost. I don't know how tradeable Chara is at this point, and he's clearly undergoing a decline, but I view it as a sunk cost right now.
 

catomatic

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Jul 16, 2005
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He's perplexed me this year because his play is so darn streaky. In general, his legs are not moving the way they used to, and he relies on his reach way too much. Also, his clears and breakout passes, particularly on the backhand, can be phenomenally weak to the point that they get (needlessly) picked off quite often. It drives me nuts how casual he can be with the puck. But it's hard to assign this latter tendency to age, it feels mental to me and that's why I find it bewildering. His legs are markedly slower, though, I don't think that's really deniable. I do think that because of his stature and influence and singular skill-set (regardless of decline), he will continue to be worth his contract up to the end.
 

Eddie Jurak

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There aren't many (any?) precedents as far as 6'9" guys, but elite two-way defensemen generally tend to age welll, with offensive skills and production tending to erode faster than the defense.  (See guys like Chris Chelios and Scott Stevens.)  I think Chara has started his decline, but he should maintain enough defensive ability to be a decent to good value at his current contract - and perhaps be worthy of an extension at lower money.
 
I would guess the injury and the decline of the team around him are both reasons why he has looked worse this year, moreso than he's wjust ashed up.
 

Dropkick Izzy

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Jan 28, 2003
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Eddie Jurak said:
There aren't many (any?) precedents as far as 6'9" guys, but elite two-way defensemen generally tend to age welll, with offensive skills and production tending to erode faster than the defense.  (See guys like Chris Chelios and Scott Stevens.)  I think Chara has started his decline, but he should maintain enough defensive ability to be a decent to good value at his current contract - and perhaps be worthy of an extension at lower money.
 
TLDR: Get him off the goddamn PP, Clod.
 

mcpickl

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Jul 23, 2007
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Dropkick Izzy said:
TLDR: Get him off the goddamn PP, Clod.
Who takes his place?
 
Seidenberg, McQuaid or Bartkowski?
 
Hamilton/Krug are on PP1, already have 4 forwards on PP2 so I think you'd want one defenseman.