Zdeno Chara may have turned 41 a mere 10 days ago, but father time and a talented youth movement isn’t slowing him down. In fact, he’s arguably having one of his better years in the back-9 of his career.

The tallest player in National Hockey League history wants to play, and who can blame him. He’s not there to chase an elusive Stanley Cup nor is he looking to extend his career out of necessity. Instead, the selfless Chara wants to keep his standards high and continue his role as a leader and mentor to a young and exciting Bruins squad.

Chara expressed his interest in continuing his career in Boston. The end isn’t near, but the continuation was confirmed Wednesday when he signed a one-year deal worth $5 million — with an extra $1.75 million in incentives.

“Motivation for me just comes from being on the ice and [to] compete, and for that, you need to be under contract. But at the same time I’m highly motivated to be playing and competing and, like I said, practicing and coming to the rink every day and being surrounded by youth and talented players — and the right mix of players. It just can’t get any better,” Chara said during Wednesday’s press conference at TD Garden.

“So, to me, I want to continue to play, like I expressed early in September, and that hasn’t changed. For me that’s the drive, that’s the motivation. I want to be out there and play and enjoy that while I can.”

Chara can still play alright. The reliable 6-9 defenseman is logging heavy minutes with his team-leading 23:00 of ice time per game to go along with his 23 points (third among B’s d-men) and plus-26 rating; good for ninth best in the NHL.

His performance speaks for itself, but it’s his leadership, dedication and flexibility to structure a friendly contract that led to Sweeney inking Chara to a new deal.

“You know this is based on performance [along with] obviously his longevity to this hockey club and his importance to this hockey club in a leadership role, and I think you’re seeing that with the tutelage of some of the younger players both on and off the ice,” Sweeney said. “The effort to land on a one-year deal really speaks to Zdeno’s commitment to the Boston Bruins and the understanding of exploring some flexibility as we continue to build this team to the direction [we want], and with him being a big part of our current success and future success.”

Chara’s success, both past and present, helped the Bruins go from a doormat upon his arrival in 2006 to one of the upper-echelon teams in the NHL. But his performance combined with the Bruins missing the playoffs in the two years following their Presidents’ Trophy-winning 2013-14 campaign led to the hot takes and trade speculation fueled by sports talk radio.

He’s aged like a fine wine and helped the Bruins overcome a rough two-year patch with a return to the playoffs in 2016-17. Still performing at a high level one year later, Chara, who missed the last six games with an upper-body injury, has a new contract in hand and hopes to lend his signature on at least one more deal before calling it a career.

“Well, obviously it goes by performance. I have to perform, and that’s the bottom line, no matter how long you want to continue to play,” Chara said. “You need to perform to back up your status. I know that I need to go out there every night and do my job and perform hard and work hard and be a great example for my teammates, and the rest of it will fall into place. So it’s hard to really put a number on it.”

It may be hard to predict an exact number, and yes he may be a step slower from his days as a perennial Norris Trophy candidate, but Chara is still performing and leading at a high level. He’s earned every penny of salary during his 20-year career and he continues to perform as a top-pair defenseman.