BOSTON -- The Boston Bruins will be without the services of defenseman Zdeno Chara to start the 2015-16 season Thursday night because of an ongoing upper-body injury.
Chara suffered the injury during his first preseason game on Sept. 24 and began practicing with the team earlier this week in hopes of being ready for the first game against the Winnipeg Jets at TD Garden. The 38-year-old blueliner participated in the team's morning skate, but coach Claude Julien announced Chara would not be available for the game.
"You always want to play, but unfortunately at this time, the stage where I'm at, I've got to wait for another day," Chara said.
Chara said he is feeling better but there's still no timetable when he could return to the lineup. Julien said he hopes the captain could be back for the team's next game, when the Bruins host the Montreal Canadiens on Saturday night at TD Garden.
"I'm OK to be smart about it," Chara said. "Obviously I want to play as soon as I can, but at the same time it's Game 1 and know that it's [not] less important than any other game, but at this time, I want to continue to have progress and keep going forward with it instead of having setbacks."
The Bruins were without Chara for an extended period last season when he suffered a left knee injury. He missed 19 games and the Bruins posted an 11-7-1 record during his absence.
When the puck drops Thursday night, the Bruins will stick to their game plan.
"No one wants to try and do too much or try to fill his role. It's obviously a big loss that we can't have him in there tonight, but he'll be back soon," defenseman Kevin Miller said. "We just need to focus on our game plan."
The Bruins also start the regular season without defenseman Dennis Seidenberg, who had back surgery last month and will be sidelined for eight weeks.