How do the Bruins right their season without Zdeno Chara?

Hockey is an odd game. When a really good player gets hurt, it stings no question. But in the regular season, the sum is often greater than the parts. Look at Pittsburgh in 2011, making the playoffs without Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin.

But when a big-named guy goes down, the initial shock value is quite large. Take a look at how Boston is treating Zdeno Chara's left knee injury, which will keep him out four-to-six weeks. Joe Haggerty of CSN New England referred to losing Chara as a "doomsday scenario" for the Bruins. 

While that may sound somewhat harsh, Haggerty has a few points to back up his claim.

First, the Bruins are ordinary without Chara:

Chara has missed a grand total of 20 games over his nine seasons with the Bruins, and the team is a very average 8-7-5 without him in the lineup.

Second there are those intangibles the Bruins 6-foot-9 captain brings...

The bottom line for the Bruins: They suddenly need to find 1) a gigantic net-front presence on their top power-play unit, 2) an elite penalty killer, 3) a defenseman capable of playing 25-plus minutes in a game, and 4) a leader willing to play with maximum effort in all situations.

OK, we get it. Chara is really, really, really ridiculously good. The Bruins are a team accustomed to success and are 4-5-0 to start the year. Losing a player like Chara for that length of time could put a team behind in the playoff chase and force them to play catch up.

But it's not like the Bruins defense is void of talent without Chara. Dennis Seidenberg is still a rock, plus it could give a chance for youngsters Dougie Hamilton and Torey Krug to hasten their collective developments.

Also, wasn't Joe Morrow a first round pick once upon a time?

Losing defensemen to injuries is not exactly exclusive to Boston either. On Friday the Flyers announced Braydon Coburn and Andrew MacDonald would be out approximately four weeks with lower body injuries.

Injuries are a part of the game. The sun comes up the next day, we all move on. 

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