Bruins’ Marchand On Chirping Chara: ‘I’m Not Poking The Bear’

Longtime Boston Bruins captain Zdeno Chara might have signed with the Washington Capitals and left the Bruins after 14 years as captain, but a part of the 6-foot-9 defenseman is always going to remain with the Black and Gold. Certainly, that meant Bruins fans will watch him from afar as he plays for the Capitals within the East Division and against the Black and Gold this season.

The Bruins will get their first up-close look at Chara this weekend when they travel to Washington, but the big shutdown D-man already had a memorable moment with the Caps Thursday night when he scored his first goal with his new team. The Capitals celebrated with the 43-year-old defenseman like they’d just won the Stanley Cup and it was honestly good to see.

Then Chara shared this bittersweet Instagram post celebrating the moment and his new teammates, with the Bruins memories officially stored away for now.

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A post shared by Zdeno Chara (@zeechara33)

The Boston Bruins are clearly doing okay as well off to a 5-1-1 star to the season, but they’re also making preparations for what could be a black-and-blue reunion with their former captain on Saturday. Brad Marchand said there’s no way he’s going to be chirping Big Zee on the ice because he knows it’s going to be all business against a fierce competitor and feared adversary.

“No. You don’t want to poke the bear. He’s the kind of guy where when he’s out there [on the ice], you’re an opponent,” said Marchand of Chara, who has a goal, three points and a plus-7 while averaging 20:29 of ice time in eight games with the Capitals this season. “He’s not going to have any friends out there. He’s going to compete and battle. I’m not going to poke the bear anyway. The biggest thing I can do is just try and skate away from him. If you get within that reach of his grasp, then you’re not going anywhere and he’s obviously one of the best defensemen in the world. He’s going to be tough to play against.”

Clearly Chara is going to be highly motivated this weekend to prove a point after the Boston Bruins essentially moved on from him while he still wanted to play. And it will be weird to see Chara playing against the Bruins after he secured his Hall of Fame resume during his 14 extremely successful years in Boston.

But watching him celebrate with his Capitals teammates and then post about it on Instagram afterward brought home the reality that Chara has moved on from the Black and Gold at this point.