from Matt Porter of the Boston Globe,

TD Garden will be mostly empty on Wednesday night when Chara returns to Causeway Street for the first time in his post-Bruins career. He will not be greeted by canorous cheers, a packed house welcoming home a franchise legend. No matter what kind of video is played for the television audience, it will not be a proper tribute. It won’t be quite right.

That’s fine by Chara. Even though a trip to Boston will never be strictly business, he is here to play two hockey games, his Capitals against the Bruins on Wednesday and Friday.

“It’s going to be exciting to be back,” Chara said Tuesday on a Zoom call, before stepping on the practice ice at Warrior Ice Arena. “Obviously, we all wish to have fans at some point — hopefully sooner — at our arenas. They always make the games more exciting. But this time we’re going to have to obviously wait and respect that safety and health is the priority.”

On Monday, Chara reunited with his family, which remains at their home in the North End: wife Tatiana; daughter Elliz, who turns 12 next month; and twin boys Ben and Zack, who turn 5 on Saturday.

“It was really nice to see them after a long time and be a dad for one day again,” said Chara, who had been with the Capitals since signing for one year and $795,000 on Dec. 30.

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