Bruins' Zdeno Chara understands the bigger picture

Zdeno Chara is not the type of veteran player that needs to have a carrot dangled in front of him in order to perform at a high level.

He’s motivated enough to win and extend his career as long as possible. The $5 million base salary, along with a $1.75 million in incentives, was enough for him to agree to a contract extension with the Boston Bruins through the 2018-19 season.

The captain has earned it, especially this season. It’s no surprise that in a contract year, he’s re-energized his career. The 41-year-old defenseman has made significant contributions on the ice. It’s helped that he’s played the majority of the season with 20-year-old rookie Charlie McAvoy as a partner -- those young legs have paid dividends when it comes to keeping the older wheels fresh.

If there’s one player in the NHL that will earn all of his incentives, it’s Chara. His incentives next season are based on the number of games played and postseason accomplishments. If he hits them all, he can earn $6.750 million in total salary. (He earned $4 million this season in the final year of his seven-year deal worth $45.5 million.)

He’s earned over $90 million in his career and he’s smart with his money, so he was looking for something fair moving forward. At this stage of his life, he’s fine with playing for a contract year-to-year.

“For me, motivation comes from being on the ice and  (competing),” Chara said. “I’m highly motivated just to be playing and competing, practicing and coming to the rink every day and being surrounded by young and talented players – the right mix of players. It can’t get any better.

"I want to continue to play, and that hasn’t changed. That’s the drive, the motivation. I want to be out there and play and enjoy it while I can.”



Each situation is different and it depends on the circumstances when it comes to incentive-laden contracts. Bruins general manager Don Sweeney made it clear to Chara and his agent, Matt Keator, how this type of deal will help the overall organization moving forward. Chara understood, and the trick was to figure out all the nuances while navigating a new deal that would work under the salary cap.

“You’ve got players that are trying to keep themselves (playing), so they’ll take an incentive-laden deal. You’ve got other players that are still performing to the level of Zdeno that buy into the team philosophy,” Sweeney told BostonSportsJournal.com.

The Bruins are winning with a young core of players all on entry-level contracts, including McAvoy, Danton Heinen, Anders Bjork, Jake DeBrusk, Matt Grzelcyk, Brandon Carlo and Ryan Donato. Not to mention all the prospects in Providence playing on entry-level contracts.

Sweeney also wants to sign pending UFA Rick Nash this offseason. According to our friends at capfriendly.com, the Bruins are at $77,959.167 with $233,319 of cap space available. Owner Jeremy Jacobs has promised in the past to spend to the cap, and it’s expected to increase to $82 million for 2018-19.

Sweeney will have some maneuvering to do during the offseason, and it starts with Chara’s extension.

“Looking at this from a bunch of different angles, we have some forecasting to do in the next couple of years. And we think the young group is emerging for our hockey club, and we want to be able to explore some of the possibilities of signing some players,” Sweeney said. “That was relevant in all of our conversations with Matt (Keator) and communicating with Zdeno, so he has a complete understanding of that.

“There’s leverage on his side, and if he goes to market then he’s probably looking at term. There was real good communication on both sides, and he understands what we’re trying to do as an organization and commit to our guys as the next core group, while this core group leads us to where we are today.”

Chara’s a smart man. He looks at the product on the ice and realizes this team can become a perennial Stanley Cup contender again, beginning with this season. The timing of the announcement serves as a motivation for everyone involved with the start of the playoffs quickly approaching. Agreeing to this type of deal proves that Chara believes in the direction of the organization.

“It’s certainly helpful for both the club and the player when they get to a certain age,” said team president Cam Neely. “It gives the team more flexibility and then the player certainly has the opportunity to make probably what they feel they should be making in a season. The flexibility is the key part of it.”