Boston Bruins Make Wise Decision Holding Chara, Krejci Out of Western Road Trip

The Boston Bruins are not going to have Zdeno Chara and David Krejci as they know them available in the near future. Therein sits a vital distinction from potentially having the injured top defenseman or the injured top center available to play at all this week.

As the team’s website confirmed Saturday afternoon, Boston’s brass understands that distinction. Both players will stay behind for the team’s week-long road trip to start the new calendar month.

Accordingly, the baptismal fire will burn for at least another week’s worth of games. But this team can afford that, especially if it means building Chara and Krejci back to the top of their game before the halfway mark of 2014-15.

Once the Bruins are finished with those four road tilts, they will have four days to return home and prepare for a Dec. 11 visit from the Blackhawks. That should mean an opportunity to give Chara and Krejci a chance to log multiple practices and embark on that game in more of an opening-night form.

Barring any new aggravation, the ensuing weeks should witness a gradual return to top-tier and top-line form. Based on its slate of opponents for the next month, that would be Boston’s best-case scenario.

Conversely, trying to plug in one or more on the fly this week would risk bringing them back in more of an offseason form. That is to say nothing of the increased risk of another injurious setback, which Krejci has had too many of already.

Granted, a who’s who of opponents lies ahead for this week, especially with the first two stops being in Anaheim and Los Angeles. Those two matchups, as well as this Thursday’s visit to San Jose, will certainly be measuring poles.

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And yes, with those three games and Saturday’s road trip finale in Arizona, there will be eight vital points at stake. But because these are all nonconference matchups, they are at least not virtual “four-point” contests.

The divisional, and even inter-divisional, Eastern Conference games will hold more sway on Boston’s posture in the standings. Those matchups are the ones in which the Bruins will simultaneously try to collect points for themselves and deny an opponent any direct advancement in their derby.

Between now and Christmas, there will be only two games of that variety: Dec. 13 versus Ottawa and Dec. 21 against Buffalo. After the holiday respite, the Bruins will face a steadier stream of conference and Atlantic Division rivals.

Virtually all of those matchups could impact whether they remain one of the “wild cards,” slip out of a playoff position or establish a sturdier stature. For this reason, ensuring top-notch versions of Chara and Krejci for those matchups is more important than reintegrating them as soon as possible.

Krejci’s long-term status is as vague as the details regarding his ailment, which the team has not divulged at any time. But Chara, who suffered his knee injury Oct. 23, could be ready to resume his normal regimen as early as this Thursday.

That is assuming Bruins general manager Peter Chiarelli’s declaration from last Monday holds up. Chiarelli had told the team’s radio broadcasters at the time that the captain was looking at between 10 and 14 more days.

Based on the schedule, and the extent of Chara’s injury stint as it is, maxing out that timetable is the most logical approach. In fact, one could argue that it is the only logical approach.

Chara need not feel any pressure to hop back in on the fly simply because he has now logged five weeks on the sideline. He resumed skating last week with the strength and conditioning staff but has yet to join the rest of the team for any sessions.

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Forget about the notion of a fresh-legged, energetic Chara emerging from his unplanned rest period. The 37-year-old tower needs to start from scratch, letting solitary skates evolve into a succession of team practices, followed by game involvement.

Likewise, Krejci’s saga screams for a smooth, steady stride back to normalcy. After all, he, like Chara, stayed out of full-fledged drills for the team’s practices both this past Wednesday and Thursday.

After making a belated season debut Oct. 13, Krejci went to the sidelines for the second time this fall after an Oct. 30 visit to Buffalo. He has since made a pair of single-game comeback attempts this past month, one on Nov. 6 and again on Nov. 18.

With the obvious outcome of those attempts, there is little doubt the Bruins made the wrong move in each instance. But by giving him until at least next Thursday, they will have afforded Krejci more than three full weeks to recover between game appearances.

Three consecutive days of practice between Boston’s return home and the Chicago game would be the best way to ease each player back into rhythm. In that sense, it would afford Chara and Krejci a miniature training camp.

It would also benefit the rest of the team by letting the coaches determine the best lineup configurations and the players acclimate to those new arrangements.

In a similar vein, this approach would buy the Bruins time to jell back into more of a full, proven, NHL-caliber roster before the more critical matchups. Starting with Chicago, four of five and five of their next seven games will be out of conference.

If all goes according to plan, their long-absent personnel will be ready to deliver pre-injury performances when “four-point” games start coming in succession again. In the meantime, the rest of the team and organization can embolden its depth this week while Chara and Krejci focus on starting their 2014-15 seasons over.

Unless otherwise indicated, all statistics for this report were found via nhl.com.