Islanders Add Chara in Free Agency 2019-12-12 The New York Islanders who have missed the playoffs two years in a row mostly due to a leaky defense, have spent big money to sign veteran defenseman Zdeno Chara to a 1 year deal. Chara is expected to shore up a defense which despite the reasonable additions the Islanders have made over the past several seasons (Ron Hainsey, Ian Cole, Dougie Hamilton) still struggles to keep the puck out of the net. GM Tony Chiu was asked about the big money deal which carries a whopping 9.5mil cap hit plus even more bonus money. "Z is a winner. We think by bringing him in, he can make us a winner in the short-term as well as make some minor adjustments to our culture as well. We have a good leadership group in place with Hainsey but we still lack some depth on the blueline. We also hope Big Z can help 'Big Z 2' (Nikita Zadarov) polish up his game as well." "Yes it is a lot of money, but there's no term. There's still gas in the tank, but we respect Zdeno's wish to sign year by year. Also, everybody realizes that some of our other players will need extensions in the near future, so we believe bringing in Chara for just one year will not have any negative impact on those extensions." It is believed that Chara will play with a puckmover, either Swedish defenseman John Klingberg or powerplay specialist Dougie Hamilton. Ian Cole and Nikita Zadarov will play on the third pairing on defense for Alain Vigneault.