Chara Out Long-Term with Knee Issue

One of the more durable players in the NHL had a rough night on Thursday, as Boston Bruins defenseman Zdeno Chara appeared to lay a pretty good bodycheck on Islanders captain John Tavares early on in their game at the Nassau Coliseum, but it was Chara who ended up leaving the game and going to the hospital to get checked out.

The Bruins management confirmed on Friday morning that Chara did suffer a PCL (posterior cruciate ligament) tear in his knee and it doesn't appear that surgery is a likely option.

There is some evidence that the collision did see some knee-on-knee contact, which appears to be the culprit in the act, and it will now cost the veteran Slovak defender upwards of six weeks on the shelf.  No question, this will leave a giant hole in the team's line-up, something the team hasn't seen very often, since he joined the team as a free agent in 2006.

Some interesting stats have popped up since the reports of Chara's injury, as the team has only seen 21 games without their big defenseman and they've played .500 hockey in his absence.  With a slimmer blueline, thanks to salary cap constraints, it will be interesting to see how Boston responds.

Chara hasn't exactly been lighting up the scoresheet to start the season, only picking up 2 goals and 1 assist in the first nine games of the year, which has him ranked 194th overall in pool scoring.

This injury, if it runs its course, will take the hulking defender to the end of Week Nine, which would be the end of the actual picking process of the pool's first Waiver Draft.  Knowing how fit Chara is, I would imagine that the 4-week timeline doesn't seem out of the question, but nevertheless, both the Bruins and Ryan will be spending some rough days ahead without Chara.

Ryan stands in 18th spot, 22 points out of 3rd place, and has now lost his 7th round draft pick for the foreseeable future.  Granted, Chara hasn't given him much this year so far, but missing bodies will do him more for the Jordan Staal bobblehead than the prize money.

An updated list of injuries can be found here.