Zdeno Chara needs to undergo a “procedure” and is out for the Bruins.

The Boston Bruins will be without their biggest gun as they try to enter the holiday break on a winning note. 

On Sunday Boston Bruins captain Zdeno Chara announced that he would miss the Bruins upcoming game against Alexander Ovechkin and his Washington Capitals. According to a video released by the Bruins Chara will be undergoing a medical procedure on his jaw that will cause him to miss playing time, and based on Chara's comments today it sounds like the decision to do this around the holiday season was a deliberate one on the part of Chara, the Bruins organization, and the medical staff that will be treating him. 

"We tried to take advantage of that little break that we have coming up so it’s not too demanding on the body," said Chara on Sunday.

Now this is only speculation on my part but I suspect that this procedure is likely related to the horrific injury that was suffered by the Bruins big man during the 2019 Stanley Cup Finals, a brutally broken jaw that somehow Chara managed to played through. At the time of the injury Chara confirmed that his jaw had been wired and that it was being held together thanks to the use of some metal plates in his face, not exactly a pleasant condition to be in regardless of how tough you are. At the time the recovery period for that injury was estimated to be a month and a half, but given the serious nature of the injury it is quite possible that there are some lingering effects.

Although the timing of this procedure makes a ton of sense in the context of both Chara's personal recovery and in the context of the Bruins current schedule, it also comes at a pretty tough time for the team. Just earlier today teammate Brad Marchand made it clear that the Bruins want to enter the holiday season on a good note after a tough stretch of play.

"We haven’t been having the results we would like," said Marchand. "Having a bit of a break, it would definitely be nice to go into it on a good note."