from Kevin Paul Dupont of the Boston Globe,

The Bruins need help in a few places, true of most of their playoff-bound brethren, and left-side defense is among their glaring soft spots.

Which is to say, gee, a guy like Zdeno Chara would be a good fit over there right about now, ya know?

Big Z’s not coming back, folks, so erase that from your Monday trade deadline wish list. Right now, as far as the first-place Capitals are concerned, he’s the most valuable Washington monument in town.

The Trencin Tower of Power will be on the job against the Bruins Thursday night, 99 days since abruptly bidding Boston adieu as a free agent, and paired most of the night with Nick Jensen as the Capitals’ top penalty-killing tandem....

Remember, it came down to role, profile, and above all, need, general manager Don Sweeney, et al, convinced that newbies Jeremy Lauzon and Jakub Zboril needed Chara’s ice time to find footing in their NHL careers. All of that, they felt, was a more pressing need than finding Chara bona fide minutes and keeping him happy in a meaningful insurance/coaching role in what portended to be — and has since proven — a demanding, compressed 56-game season.

To their credit, Lauzon and Zboril have been OK, about on par with where Chara stood upon landing on the Islanders’ blue line as a 20-year-old, back when size alone was a work permit in the NHL.

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