Zdeno Chara has been one of the important core members of the Boston Bruins for the last decade, and he’ll stay in that core for at least another year.

To little surprise, the Bruins are keeping Chara in the fold as general manager Don Sweeney announced a one-year, $5 million contract extension — with $1.75 million in performance-based incentives — for the 6-foot-9 defenseman.

Chara, who has donned the ‘C’ in each of his 11 seasons in Boston — and is the longest-active tenured captain in the league — has guided the Black and Gold to eight playoff appearances. His 888 games played in a Bruins uniform is good for seventh in team history and his 452 points puts him only behind Hockey Hall of Famers Ray Bourque (1,506) and Bobby Orr (888).

The recently turned 41-year-old defenseman is having one of his better years on the back nine of his career. Chara’s plus-26 rating is good for ninth in the league — and tied for second among all NHL blueliners — while averaging a team-best 23:00 of ice time per game. He also sits third among Bruins d-men in points (23) and tied for second in goals (7) despite missing the last six games with an upper-body injury.

With the Chara signing, the Bruins have 17 players under contract with a projected commitment north of $63 million for next season according to CapFriendly. That could leave them with roughly $15-$18 million in projected salary cap space with the cap expected to be between $78-$82 million in a 2018-19.

Chara and Sweeney will meet with the media for a 4:30 p.m. press conference. We’ll have complete coverage here on Bruins Daily as well as our social media outlets (Facebook, Twitter and Instagram).