Chara is definitely not a Top-3 defensive defenceman of All-Time, and also not close to Top-5 post O-6, but some of you are overly harsh on him. Obviously, Chara main strength is countering big and strong forwards over the speedy one. He probably wouldn't sniff a Top-50 list if he only played against players like Yvan Cournoyer or Pavel Bure, but he is very high on my list if I want someone to stop a Eric Lindros, Cy Denneny or even the very best like Gordie Howe. Overall, he is a polarizing figure defensively, because we all saw the Martin St-Louis' and Brian Gionta's getting past him a couple of times, but again, if we take out the speediest skater of the league, Chara is extremely difficult to beat in almost any defensive situation.
this is interesting. i don't have chara on the shortlist of greatest defensive defenseman of all time, and he's one of the last post-expansion norris winners i'd want if i was facing pavel bure. but at the same time there are few guys i would rather have if i was facing mario lemieux, who was arguably the most devastating individual offensive force of all time.
we saw in the finals how the sedins made a fool out of him in game one. it was remarkable.
they both came at
him to exploit his clumsiness. i'm not going to do the sequence justice, but the puck goes into the corner and daniel and chara are battling. daniel backs into him, like a basketball player boxing out for a rebound, and lets the puck glide into chara's skates. then, when chara fumbles, daniel kicks the puck to henrik, daniel spins off and fakes like it's going back to him so chara does a 360, turning to henrik then immediately around again to daniel. meanwhile, the puck goes around the boards to the point. it was bieksa, i think.
but this is what really surprised me about chara, who i'd obviously seen play many times before, but never in seven consecutive games. vancouver fans were sure that this big clumsy oaf was the guy we'd see all series. by game three, chara had figured them out and put them completely on lockdown. he'd play them close and play the body instead of the puck, he figured out how they pass to each other and used his enormous reach to break up so many plays between them and burrows.
that's the way you'd have to play mario too. he obviously had that great playmaking ability, and you'd have to play him tight and overpower him, which chara could do. his biggest advantage over you is his reach, which makes it very difficult to play him tight. not so against chara, who has five inches on him. open ice, he could still burn you, but even then i think chara's reach negates lemieux's natural advantages to a great degree than almost any other defenseman ever.
