Bruins’ Zdeno Chara to miss season opener vs. Jets

It looked like a pretty harmless play as Ryan Bourque hit Zdeno Chara in the neutral zone near the Bruins bench. But the Bruins captain would leave the game afterward.

Zdeno Chara will miss the Boston Bruins‘ season opener versus the Winnipeg Jets, Bruins coach Claude Julien announced Thursday.

The Bruins captain is dealing with an upper-body injury he suffered in a pre-season game against the New York Rangers last month.

It’s unclear how long Chara will be out of the lineup, but it appears to be a short-term ailment.

Chara, 38, dealt with several injuries last season and only ended up playing 63 games as the Bruins missed the playoffs for the first time since 2007.

“I’m okay to be smart about it,” Chara told reporters after Thursday’s morning skate. “Obviously I want to play as soon as I can. But at the same time it’s game one. And not that it’s less important than any other game. But at this time I just want to continue to have progress and keep going forward with it instead of having any setbacks.”

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