Zdeno Chara, Jordan Staal Working Towards Returns

Boston Bruins‘ Zdeno Chara, Carolina Hurricanes‘ Jordan Staal looking to make returns soon

The Boston Bruins have been struggling without veteran captain Zdeno Chara, but their pain doesn’t even come close to that of the Carolina Hurricanes.

The Hurricanes have been missing alternate captain Jordan Staal since preseason, when an awkward fall resulted in a badly broken leg. The forward has been walking around in a boot all autumn, powerless to do anything about his teams’ struggle to pull themselves from the bottom of the league standings.

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Both teams can breathe a sigh of relief soon enough, though, as Chara and Staal are both giving good reports regarding their recovery periods.

Chara, who is out with a knee injury incurred during a hit against New York Islanders captain John Tavares, has officially been out of the lineup for three times as long as his previous worst injury (the captain has never sat out more than five games with the Boston roster). He’s been skating regularly, though — and when the team returns from an eight-day, four game road trip through the Western Conference, they hope he’ll be close to returning. It was originally projected that he’d be out for 5-6 weeks, so he has high hopes of returning in the next handful of matchups.

Staal, on the other hand, is a bit farther behind in his recovery progress — but things are still looking good. The center has been reported as ahead of schedule in his recovery process, having shed his walking boot already and heading into off-ice workouts this week.

Although the Bruins are doing much better than the Hurricanes are at this point, both teams are desperate to get these top-ice minutes guys back; without them, the season won’t be an easy one.

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