So unique are the man’s talents, so indistinguishable was he from the bedrock of the Boston Bruins, that even in this age of salary caps and free-flowing player movement it seemed slightly implausible.
That’s not logical thinking, of course, not at the precipice of a season where Joe Thornton is a Maple Leaf, Mikko Koivu is a Blue Jacket and Alex Pietrangelo is a Golden Knight. Not in a time where Henrik Lundqvist would have been standing in the Capitals crease absent the shocking discovery of an ailment that requires open-heart surgery.
But how you felt when you first heard Wednesday afternoon’s Chara news says something about the towering defenceman and his immense standing in Boston.
Incredibly, he played parts of eight NHL seasons in Long Island and Ottawa before even arriving in Boston as a free agent in July 2006. The Senators chose to keep Wade Redden over Chara that summer and almost immediately came to regret it.
There has never been a player quite like ‘Big Z’ in the history of the league.
So large at six-foot-nine, 250 pounds, that he has special dispensation to carry a stick a few inches longer than the NHL-mandated maximum and so unmatched in the ways he can use it.
In his peak years, Chara was as feared as any of his peers and rarely ever had to throw a punch. He produced points, killed penalties and was a matchup nightmare for anyone trying to come down the left side of the ice. He gained a reputation as being a fierce competitor in opposing dressing rooms and played a massive role in changing the culture inside the home one at TD Garden.
Chara was the consummate Bruin for 14 seasons, wearing the captain’s ‘C’ for each of the 1,173 regular-season and playoff games he appeared in for the organization. That included the Stanley Cup victory in 2011 and two other trips to the final, the most recent of which in 2019 featured a spine-tingling standing ovation before Game 5 when Chara played despite suffering a broken jaw.
No wonder his Instagram sendoff was so heartfelt and included the line “I will always be a Bruin. I will always love Boston.”
No wonder so many former teammates rushed to fill their own feeds with tributes. Tom Brady, who left New England for Tampa this season, even commented on Chara’s post by saying “Best of luck to you Zee” and tagged it with a couple ‘100’ and ‘heart’ emojis.
Fourteen years is a long time in life. It’s an eternity in pro sports.
As for why business ultimately forced a separation that few saw coming, well, that’s a story we’ve seen play out time and again. The summer’s return-to-play was not particularly kind to Chara’s game and the organization felt it was time for him to step aside and make way for others behind him. But even at age 43, Chara did not share that view.
There doesn’t seem to be any bad feelings about the way things went down — Chara said he respected the Bruins’ decision — but it’s worth noting that he’s ended up with a rival in the realigned East Division and the teams are scheduled to meet eight times in the next four months.
Chara’s arrival in Washington set off a wave of excitement. The Capitals have a new coach in Peter Laviolette, plus all the familiar offensive weapons, and are trying to win another championship before their window of contention slams shut. It’s the ideal destination for someone in Chara’s skates.
And it’s telling that more than half of the teams in the league inquired about his services while he remained unsigned deep into December. Chara is joining the Capitals on a contract paying him $795,000 and even if there are questions about his foot speed and doubts about how many minutes he can handle it’s difficult to imagine him not delivering excess value.
We’re talking about a fitness fanatic famous for biking Tour de France stages and climbing Mount Kilimanjaro during the off-season. A player who has been dragging teammates into the battle for more than two decades and skated with a broken jaw 18 months ago.
A guy who very easily could have done the safe thing and retired when he found out the Bruins were moving in another direction and instead chose to play on.
Viewed in totality, the surprise wasn’t so much that Chara is coming back for another NHL season. It’s that the Bruins are choosing to let him finish a Hall of Fame career somewhere else.
RIYADH, Saudi Arabia – Canada’s Gabriela Dabrowski and New Zealand’s Erin Routliffe remain undefeated in women’s doubles at the WTA Finals.
The 2023 U.S. Open champions, seeded second at the event, secured a 1-6, 7-6 (1), (11-9) super-tiebreak win over fourth-seeded Italians Sara Errani and Jasmine Paolini in round-robin play on Tuesday.
The season-ending tournament features the WTA Tour’s top eight women’s doubles teams.
Dabrowski and Routliffe lost the first set in 22 minutes but levelled the match by breaking Errani’s serve three times in the second, including at 6-5. They clinched victory with Routliffe saving a match point on her serve and Dabrowski ending Errani’s final serve-and-volley attempt.
Dabrowski and Routliffe will next face fifth-seeded Americans Caroline Dolehide and Desirae Krawczyk on Thursday, where a win would secure a spot in the semifinals.
The final is scheduled for Saturday.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published on Nov. 5, 2024.
EDMONTON – Jake Allen made 31 saves for his second shutout of the season and 26th of his career as the New Jersey Devils closed out their Western Canadian road trip with a 3-0 victory over the Edmonton Oilers on Monday.
Jesper Bratt had a goal and an assist and Stefan Noesen and Timo Meier also scored for the Devils (8-5-2) who have won three of their last four on the heels on a four-game losing skid.
The Oilers (6-6-1) had their modest two-game winning streak snapped.
Calvin Pickard made 13 stops between the pipes for Edmonton.
TAKEAWAYS
Devils: In addition to his goal, Bratt picked up his 12th assist of the young season to give him nine points in his last eight games and now 15 points overall. Nico Hischier remains in the team lead, picking up an assist of his own to give him 16 points for the campaign. He has a point in all but four games this season.
Oilers: Forward Leon Draisaitl was held pointless after recording six points in his previous two games and nine points in his previous four. Draisaitl usually has strong showings against the Devils, coming into the contest with an eight-game point streak against New Jersey and 11 goals in 17 games.
KEY MOMENT
New Jersey took a 2-0 lead on the power play with 3:26 remaining in the second period as Hischier made a nice feed into the slot to Bratt, who wired his third of the season past Pickard.
KEY RETURN?
Oilers star forward and captain Connor McDavid took part in the optional morning skate for the Oilers, leading to hopes that he may be back sooner rather than later. McDavid has been expected to be out for two to three weeks with an ankle injury suffered during the first shift of last Monday’s loss in Columbus.
OILERS DEAL FOR D-MAN
The Oilers have acquired defenceman Ronnie Attard from the Philadelphia Flyers in exchange for defenceman Ben Gleason.
The 6-foot-3 Attard has spent the past three season in the Flyers organization seeing action in 29 career games. The 25-year-old right-shot defender and Western Michigan University grad was originally selected by Philadelphia in the third round of the 2019 NHL Entry Draft. Attard will report to the Oilers’ AHL affiliate in Bakersfield.
UP NEXT
Devils: Host the Montreal Canadiens on Thursday.
Oilers: Host the Vegas Golden Knights on Wednesday.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 4, 2024.
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Patrick Mahomes threw for 291 yards and three touchdowns, and Kareem Hunt pounded into the end zone from two yards out in overtime to give the unbeaten Kansas City Chiefs a 30-24 win over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Monday night.
DeAndre Hopkins had two touchdown receptions for the Chiefs (8-0), who drove through the rain for two fourth-quarter scores to take a 24-17 lead with 4:17 left. But then Kansas City watched as Baker Mayfield led the Bucs the other way in the final minute, hitting Ryan Miller in the end zone with 27 seconds to go in regulation time.
Tampa Bay (4-5) elected to kick the extra point and force overtime, rather than go for a two-point conversion and the win. And it cost the Buccaneers when Mayfield called tails and the coin flip was heads. Mahomes and the Chiefs took the ball, he was 5-for-5 passing on their drive in overtime, and Hunt finished his 106-yard rushing day with the deciding TD plunge.
Travis Kelce had 14 catches for 100 yards with girlfriend Taylor Swift watching from a suite, and Hopkins finished with eight catches for 86 yards as the Chiefs ran their winning streak to 14 dating to last season. They became the sixth Super Bowl champion to start 8-0 the following season.
Mayfield finished with 200 yards and two TDs passing for the Bucs, who have lost four of their last five.
It was a memorable first half for two players who had been waiting to play in Arrowhead Stadium.
The Bucs’ Rachaad White grew up about 10 minutes away in a tough part of Kansas City, but his family could never afford a ticket for him to see a game. He wound up on a circuitous path through Division II Nebraska-Kearney and a California junior college to Arizona State, where he eventually became of a third-round pick of Tampa Bay in the 2022 draft.
Two year later, White finally got into Arrowhead — and the end zone. He punctuated his seven-yard scoring run in the second quarter, which gave the Bucs a 7-3 lead, by nearly tossing the football into the second deck.
Then it was Hopkins’ turn in his first home game since arriving in Kansas City from a trade with the Titans.
The three-time All-Pro, who already had caught four passes, reeled in a third-down heave from Mahomes amid triple coverage for a 35-yard gain inside the Tampa Bay five-yard line. Three plays later, Mahomes found him in the back of the end zone, and Hopkins celebrated his first TD with the Chiefs with a dance from “Remember the Titans.”
Tampa Bay tried to seize control with consecutive scoring drives to start the second half. The first ended with a TD pass to Cade Otton, the latest tight end to shred the Chiefs, and Chase McLaughlin’s 47-yard field goal gave the Bucs a 17-10 lead.
The Chiefs answered in the fourth quarter. Mahomes marched them through the rain 70 yards for a tying touchdown pass, which he delivered to Samaje Perine while landing awkwardly and tweaking his left ankle, and then threw a laser to Hopkins on third-and-goal from the Buccaneers’ five-yard line to give Kansas City the lead.
Tampa Bay promptly went three-and-out, but its defence got the ball right back, and this time Mayfield calmly led his team down field. His capped the drive with a touchdown throw to Miller — his first career TD catch — with 27 seconds to go, and Tampa Bay elected to play for overtime.
UP NEXT
Buccaneers: Host the San Francisco 49ers on Sunday.
