Haggs: No Reason For Bruins To Hold Chara Back
BOSTON (CBS) --Thursday night marks seven weeks since Bruins captain Zdeno Chara went down with a knee injury.
It will also likely mark his return, as Chara is expected to play when the Bruins host the Chicago Blackhawks at the TD Garden.
"He wants to play and there is no reason to hold him back at this point, it's beyond the six weeks he needed to recover from his injury," CSNNE's Joe Haggerty told 98.5 The Sports Hub's Toucher & Rich on Thursday. "Now is the time to bring him back, and why not do it against a Chicago Blackhawks team that is the hottest team in the league? They've won seven games in a row and are playing to their potential. You've waited a long time with Chara, and now he can come back and make that impact on both ends of the ice, on the power play, the penalty kill and shutting down the other team's best players."
Read: Bruins-Blackhawks Preview
Boston went 11-7-1 in his absence and currently sit in the eight-seed in the playoff standings.
"You bring him back and things start to get a little better," said Haggs. "To me, they're still an incomplete team and still have some things they have to do in trades to get the roster they want this year. But getting a healthy Chara back brings them closer to what they need to be and who they should be."
While Chara will likely be back on Boston's blue line Thursday night, the status of front-line center David Krejci isn't as clear. He has been in and out of the lineup this season, missing the last eight games with an undisclosed lower body injury.
"He is simply nervous at this point that he is going to go out, and what has happened the last two times may happen again," said Haggs. "He goes out and plays, it's clear he wasn't ready and has a setback, and then he's out another two weeks. Twice in November he tried to play, but couldn't follow it up by playing againt afterwards because the injury was still bugging him. Of course it is going to be in the back of his mind that the next time he plays maybe that will happen again.
"But the good news is he feels better than he did those last few times. He took some more time off between games than the last time, when I think he felt some personal responsibility to play and was rushing it a little bit," he added. "In this case, they've taken the long road now and maybe he's a little more ready to come back. I still don't think it's 100 percent that he plays tonight, but if he does it will be the smarter route where they know he is ready to play. But clearly, he is a little nervous about it."
Haggs also touched on the future of Loui Eriksson with the Bruins. Listen below:
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