12/21/24
October 12, 2010
Bruins Extend Chara for $45.5 Million: Four-time All-Star Zdeno Chara has signed a $45.5 million, seven-year contract extension with the Boston Bruins, the richest contract in team history. Chara and teammate Marc Savard are now signed through the 2018-19 season.
I remember when the Sens had Chara and Redden and couldn't afford to keep them both. They kept Redden, and the Bruins got Chara as a free agent.
All I could think was that the Bruins got a big useless jerk that would be a big nothing while Redden was the guy that would be a great defenseman for years to come.
I was wrong. Chara is very good, both as a defenseman and an example to all of the other players on the Bruins team. I don't know what the issue with this would be. The deal is fair, it's not crazy front-loaded, and it's a decent salary for a number one defenseman.
posted by Samsonov14 at 04:59 AM on October 16, 2010
As the linked article points out, Chara's extension came on the heels of a 3-year, $15M bump for Patrice Bergeron. GM Peter Chiarelli, when asked why the Bergeron extension was done while the team was in Prague, replied that the Czech beer had something to do with it. It must have been a real binge when the Chara contract was done.
Chara's contract is somewhat front loaded, with the thinking that he would then be protected in case of a stoppage at the next NHLPA contract negotiation. The out-year payments do not drop off all that much until year 7, which is at $4M. Chara himself was not in favor of one of these super-long deals. He wants to see where he is in terms of his health and skill level when this deal is up, and then he will make up his mind what to do next. The contract is not terribly unfriendly to the salary cap, and Chara is certainly worth the money.