A worthy Hall of Fame nod.
In the summer of 2006, the Boston Bruins organization was a mess.
The early part of the 2000s was filled with playoff flops at the hands of the Montreal Canadiens. The B’s made a mess of the post-lockout world, then traded their captain, Joe Thornton, during the 2005-2006 season.
It was a bleak time to be a Bruins fan, though we did get to see Wayne Primeau score a sick goal that season.
It wouldn’t shock you to hear that a team that traded its captain, got a new GM, and fired its coach would undergo some changes in the offseason, but the summer of 2006 ended up being among the most consequential summers in Bruins history.
Between May and July 2006, the Bruins would:
- Hire Peter Chiarelli as their general manager
- Draft Phil Kessel, Milan Lucic, and Brad Marchand
- Acquire Tuukka Rask from the Toronto Maple Leafs (sorry, Andrew Raycroft)
Oh, and they signed both Marc Savard and Zdeno Chara as free agents.
(If you’re feeling mopey about the current state of the Bruins, it’s worth remembering just how much can change in one summer.)
The draft picks and Rask trade wouldn’t pay immediate dividends (with the exception of Kessel), so the free agent signings got the most press — and deservedly so.
The signings of Chara and Savard were shocking for a number of reasons, not least of which being the Bruins had developed a reputation for being extremely cheap.
Yet there they were, somehow landing two of the biggest fish in the free agent pond.
And while Savard would be a treat to watch for years, Chara would go down as one of the most important free agent signings in team history.
On Tuesday, Chara was elected to the Hockey Hall of Fame in his first year of eligibility, adding “first-ballot Hall of Fame” to an already-impressive list of accomplishments.
There was some snickering when Chara (allegedly) made being named captain of the B’s a condition of his signing with the team; those snickers faded into the background as Chara successfully captained the team for the next decade and a half.
Chara signing with the Bruins as he entered the prime of his career shifted the perception of the B’s as a destination for big-name players.
His work ethic, which at times approached “tall tale” status as I heard he did 3,939 pull ups while wearing an army tank as a backpack, forced other B’s to up their game to match.
His on-ice performance was about as flawless as a defenseman’s can be for years, with Chara winning one Norris Trophy with the B’s and finishing in the top five of Norris voting five additional times.
And, of course, he helped lead the Bruins to the 2011 Stanley Cup, memorably lifting the Cup as high as its ever been held on the ice on that memorable June night in Vancouver.
If you think back to memorable Bruins players of the past 20 years, Chara wouldn’t be the first on your list.
He didn’t have the chaotic, “how did he do that?” energy of Tim Thomas, nor the highlight reel talent of David Pastrnak.
In fact, Chara spent a lot of his time firmly below the radar on the ice, which is exactly where you want a stay-at-home defenseman to be.
Chara’s leadership, in particular his “lead by example” style, continued to impact the Bruins through this past season, as he served as a mentor to future captains Patrice Bergeron and Brad Marchand, shaping the team’s culture for decades.
The Chara Era wasn’t perfect. There will always be the sore spots of the missed opportunities in 2013 and 2019, even though the latter featured his remarkable return from a fractured jaw.
There were some seasons (2009, 2010, 2014) where the B’s didn’t hold up their end of the bargain in the postseason, and some of the blame for those flops falls at the feet of their captain.
There will always be the sports radio callers who insist Chara wasn’t tough enough, didn’t fight enough, and whatever else your uncle might have shared at the table at Thanksgiving.
However, when you look at the total picture, it’s hard to think of a more impactful free agent signing in recent NHL history.
“We already knew all of this,” you say to yourself, forgetting that it’s June, there’s not much else going on, and it’s 129 degrees.
Yes, we did — but Chara’s election to the Hockey Hall of Fame at the first time of asking makes now a good time to fire up the nostalgia machine and appreciate some of the good times for what they were.
A Stanley Cup, a Norris Trophy, countless highlights, a Boston Marathon, summiting Mount Kilimanjaro, a real estate license, six languages spoken…not bad for a free agent signing.
Chara was elected alongside Jennifer Botterill, Brianna Decker, Duncan Keith, Alexander Mogilny (finally), Joe Thornton (interesting timing), Jack Parker, and Danielle, Sauvageau.
Chara was previously inducted into the IIHF Hall of Fame in January.