By Ty Anderson, 985TheSportsHub.com

The Boston Bruins will remain without captain Zdeno Chara through Christmas, but the 6-foot-9 captain is expected to be back and fully ready to go for the 2019 Winter Classic at Notre Dame Stadium, a source has told 98.5 The Sports Hub.

Originally given a four-week re-evaluation timeline on Nov. 17, this word is certainly a positive sign in the recovery process of the 41-year-old following an injury to his left MCL suffered in a collision with Colorado's Carl Soderberg in a Nov. 14 loss.

Chara, of course, has been skating with the Bruins -- both on his own and with the team -- in recent weeks, though Bruins coach Bruce Cassidy quickly ruled him out of this weekend's slate against the Predators and Sunday against the Hurricanes.

A workout fiend, Chara has even documented some of his recovery process via his (must-follow) Instagram account.

View this post on Instagram

It’s been hard not to play and help the boys in games past 3 weeks,but with great work and help from our entire Bruins Medical and Rehabilitation staff we are making progress every day .Eager to be back at full strength and playing. Proud of my teammates “LETS GO BRUINS!” #bruins #nhlbruins #proud #of #myteammates #gettingbackontrack video @penzy24_7 * * * Sledovať a nehrať zápasy s chlapcami nie je ľahké,ale so starostlivosťou Bruins Doktorov a všetkých Fyzioterapeutov za posledné 3 týždne sa cítim lepšie a nemôžem sa dočkať byť opäť v plnej sile a hrať . Som hrdý na svojich spoluhráčov. “Lets go Bruins “ #hrdy #na #mojich#spoluhracov#makam#na #ceste#spat

A post shared by Zdeno Chara (@zeechara33) on Dec 10, 2018 at 3:42pm PST

In his 13th season in town, Chara has recorded three goals, one assist, and averaged 21:30 of time on ice through 18 games.