For Chara, time is right
Julien reducing player's minutes
EL SEGUNDO, Calif. - Upon his hiring as Dave Lewis's replacement June 21, one of Claude Julien's first orders of business was to figure out how to fix his captain's game.
Julien and general manager Peter Chiarelli concluded that Chara, who averaged an NHL-leading 27:57 of ice time per match last season, was too overworked to be at the top of his game.
During training camp, Julien said he planned to hold Chara back this season. So far, Julien has kept his word.
In Saturday's 3-1 win over Phoenix, Chara played a total of 23:51. In comparison, in the second game of 2006-07, Chara logged a whopping 33:33 workload in the team's 3-2 win over Tampa Bay.
"It's a long year," Julien said. "There will be times when he'll get more ice time than other nights."
Although Chara is already leading the Bruins in total ice time (50:46), he's averaged 25:23 over the first two games, well off Detroit defenseman Nicklas Lidstrom's league-leading average of 32:24 through Sunday.
Combined with his light preseason workload (only one appearance because of a shoulder injury), Chara's been a relative slacker compared to previous seasons.
So far, Chara's ice-time reduction seems to have paid off. He has a minus-2 rating, but he has zero giveaways, one assist, and eight hits.
In the season-opening 4-1 loss to Dallas, Chara smoked forward Antti Miettinen, nearly knocking him into the Boston bench. Against Phoenix, Chara put a heavy hit on captain Shane Doan.
"I thought our D played well," Julien said of his team's performance against Phoenix, "so we didn't need to utilize Z more than we had to. When the time comes, we know he's capable of doing it."
Worth the wait
Last night, the Ducks were scheduled to celebrate their Stanley Cup victory by receiving their rings at the home of team owner Henry Samueli.Shawn Thornton, however, didn't plan on being there.
On Sunday, Thornton talked to Anaheim GM Brian Burke's administrative assistant, who informed the ex-Duck that Samueli would deliver his ring to him tomorrow at the Honda Center before the game.
Then tomorrow night, before Boston plays Anaheim, Thornton will watch the championship banner he helped win rise to the rink's rafters.
"I'm fortunate just to be around for it," said Thornton, who spoke recently to former teammates Travis Moen and Brad May.
"Twenty-nine other teams could have been there for their home opener. I think it's a little bit of fate that I'll get to stand on the other side.
"It was a big year last year and I've moved on, obviously, but it will definitely be fun to see."
Savard day-to-day
Marc Savard (groin strain) didn't practice yesterday, and his availability for tomorrow night's game has yet to be determined."It's Game No. 2 of an 82-game schedule," Julien said of shutting Savard down Saturday. "We'd rather have it day-to-day than push the issue and lose him for a month.
"Every day is a new day for him. He gets up and lets us know how it feels. If it feels good, he will skate. If it doesn't, we'll just keep waiting. We really don't know how quickly he'll heal or how he's going to feel from one day to another."
Saturday, Glen Metropolit replaced Savard on the No. 1 line and on the power play. During practice yesterday, Metropolit skated in Savard's spot.
"You don't want anyone getting hurt, obviously," Metropolit said. "But it was a good opportunity for me to step up and play."
Also missing practice was fellow top-liner Peter Schaefer, who wasn't feeling well. Milan Lucic took Schaefer's spot.
Practice in paradise
Forward Glen Murray makes his offseason home approximately 15 minutes away from the
