Bruins Off-Day Report: Sweeney Is “Confident” Chara Will Be Ready For Stanley Cup Final

Boston Bruins General Manager Don Sweeney is confident Bruins captain Zdeno Chara will be ready to go for the Stanley Cup Final on May 27 when the Bruins square off against either the San Jose Sharks or the St. Louis Blues on May 27.

“We have a lot of time to make the absolute right decision to give him the proper time to get over something that’s been nagging him and we’ll cross our fingers that will be the case. But we’re confident it will be,” Sweeney told the media Saturday morning.

When pressed about “crossing our fingers” and not being certain the 42-year-old defenseman would be ready from whatever is nagging him, Sweeney explained he’s not dealing with the injury, Chara is, and he can’t be 100 percent certain because anything can happen.

“I’m not living in how or where Zee feels. I expect he’ll be fine,” said the 2019 GM Of The Year finalist. “But I’m not going to sit here and make a proclamation in terms of promises. I do believe that time will be used effectively and he’ll be fine. But sometimes those are out of your control.”

Unfortunately the news wasn’t so good for defenseman Kevan Miller (lower body) – who hasn’t played in the playoffs – and forward Chris Wagner (upper-body), who flew home early from Raleigh and missed Game 4 to get further tests on an injury suffered while blocking a shot late in the third period of Game 5. Miller will not be ready for the start of the Stanley Cup Final and Sweeney doesn’t believe Wagner will be good to go either.

“We’ve got some time to continue to evaluate where guys will be,” Sweeney said. “I don’t expect Kevan [Miller], had a little bit of a setback, so I don’t expect him to be ready to play. And I would be very surprised if Chris [Wagner] is ready to play, but we’ll wait and see where that goes.”

#NHLBruins GM Don Sweeney on adjusting to the long layoff before the #StanleyCup Final and the health of Kevan Miller, Chris Wagner, and Zdeno Chara: pic.twitter.com/NSy7A3jyQi

— Boston Bruins (@NHLBruins) May 18, 2019