from Joe Haggerty of CSNNE,

Zdeno Chara is famous for always looking for ways to improve his game, even after 1,132 games, even after 17 years in the league and even after reaching the pinnacle with a seemingly annual honor as a finalist for the Norris Trophy. It’s perhaps become a bit easier to search for improvement in recent years, though, as Father Time is catching up to the 6-foot-9 defenseman just a bit.

As the NHL gets faster and sleeker as an overall style of play, Chara needs to work that much harder to keep up as the largest individual in the league. The Bruins are doing their part by dropping his ice time: it’s gone down nearly a full minute over the course of four seasons from 25:26 in 2010-11 to a 24:39 mark last season that stood as his lowest ice time total in his Bruins career.

Chara is also doing his part to work on his speed and agility during his notoriously rigorous offseason training, and keep up with players in the league that are now literally half his age.

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