Zdeno Chara “The Big Z”

Zdeno Chara “The Big Z”

Zdeno Chara played 24 seasons in the National Hockey League (NHL) for the New York Islanders, Ottawa Senators, Boston Bruins, and Washington Capitals between 1997 and 2022.

Standing 6 ft 9 in (2.06 m) tall, Chára is the tallest person ever to play in the NHL, earning him the nickname “Big Z.” Internationally, he played for the Slovakia men’s national team and won two silver medals at the Ice Hockey World Championships.

He won a silver medal playing for Team Europe at the 2016 World Cup of Hockey and was inducted into the IIHF Hall of Fame in 2025.

Chára served as the Bruins’ captain for all fourteen seasons with the franchise, from 2006 to 2020. In 2009, he won the Norris Trophy as the league’s best defenceman, becoming the first Slovak player to do so and the second European player after Nicklas Lidström. In 2011, 2013, and 2019, Chára captained the Bruins to the Stanley Cup Finals, winning in 2011.

He is one of five European-born and raised captains to lead his team to the Stanley Cup championship and the first to be born and trained in the Eastern Bloc.

In 2022, Chára played in his 1,652nd NHL game, making him the league’s all-time leader in games played by a defenceman. He was the second-to-last NHL player to play in the 1990s.

After being passed over in the 1995 draft, Chára was drafted by the New York Islanders in the third round, 56th overall, of the 1996 NHL Entry Draft. Chára spent four seasons with the Islanders organization, becoming a reliable, stay-at-home defender in a primarily defensive role. He earned a reputation as a tough player to play against – intimidating, physically strong, and a punishing hitter who could occasionally fight. His physical strength also gave him a very hard slap shot, which seemed to improve every season, although Chára was never deployed in an offensive role as an Islander.

Chára was traded to the Ottawa Senators during the 2001 NHL entry draft to acquire forward Alexei Yashin. The deal was believed to vastly improve the Islanders, who were never a contending team when Chára played there. Chára was part of a package deal that included Bill Muckalt and the second overall pick from that year’s draft, which the Senators used to select Jason Spezza. The Islanders initially planned to trade Chára to the Boston Bruins in exchange for Jason Allison. The team ownership nixed the deal because it would have involved Dave Scatchard, who they did not want to trade. After all, they “liked Dave Scatchard because he visited sick kids in the hospital.”

In 2001–02, during his first year in Ottawa, he recorded new career highs in goals (10) and points (23) as he became a bona fide two-way defenceman. His powerful slapshot continued to improve, and Ottawa began to deploy him on the power play to use it, something the Islanders had rarely done. In 2002–03, Chára blossomed into an elite NHL defenceman. He posted new career highs with 30 assists and 39 points and became one of Ottawa’s top two defenders, along with Wade Redden. He also earned his first NHL All-Star Game appearance, recording the second-hardest shot behind Al MacInnis in the Skills Competition.

In 2003–04, Chára posted career bests with 16 goals and 41 points and recorded the NHL’s third-highest plus-minus rating, behind Martin St. Louis and Marek Malík. This culminated in his first James Norris Memorial Trophy nomination. Although he lost to Scott Niedermayer as the NHL’s top defenceman, he joined Niedermayer on the NHL’s first All-Star team.

After the 2004–05 NHL lockout, Chára played in the Swedish Elitserien for Färjestad BK. He matched his previous NHL season’s 16-goal total and tallied a career-best 43 points, good enough for NHL second All-Star team honors.

Following the season, Ottawa faced the possible loss of its two top defencemen – Chára and Redden – and finances dictated they could only sign one; the Senators opted for Redden. Choosing Redden over Chára proved to be a mistake, as Redden’s performance declined, and Chára became one of the league’s top defensemen.

On July 1, 2006, the first day of the free agency period, Chára signed a five-year, $37.5 million contract with the Boston Bruins and was named the team’s captain. Chára became only the third Slovak-born NHL player to become a team captain, after Peter Šťastný of the Quebec Nordiques and Stan Mikita (co-captain) of the Chicago Blackhawks.

Chára was named to the 2007 NHL All-Star Game and won the hardest shot segment of the preceding Skills Competition, clocking a shot at 100.4 mph. Chára was voted a starter in the 2008 NHL All-Star Game, the first time he received such All-Star Game honors in his career. He repeated as the winner of the hardest shot competition, recording an even faster 103.1 mph.

At the end of the season, Chára received his second nomination for the Norris Trophy after tallying a career-high 17 goals, 34 assists, and 51 points, marking the fifth-straight season he had either matched or bested his previous season’s points total. In 2008–09, Chára was named to his fourth All-Star Game. Chára set a new Skills Competition record with a 105.4 mph shot, surpassing Al Iafrate’s record of 105.2 mph in 1993. During the season, Chára posted a career-best 19 goals and eclipsed his career-best points total, reaching the 50-point plateau for the second consecutive year. He won his first Norris Trophy as the NHL’s best defenceman for his efforts, edging Mike Green of the Washington Capitals and Nicklas Lidström of the Detroit Red Wings.

At the 2011 NHL All-Star Game, he eclipsed his previous record with a shot clocked at 105.9 mph.

On March 8, 2011, Chára hit and drove Montreal Canadiens forward Max Pacioretty’s head directly into an off-ice stanchion at the end of the bench, knocking him unconscious. Pacioretty was taken off the ice on a stretcher. Pacioretty suffered a non-displaced fracture to the 4th vertebra and a severe concussion.

In the 2011 playoffs, Chara would lead the Bruins to the Stanley Cup in seven Games over the Vancouver Canucks, Boston’s first Stanley Cup championship win since 1972. In so doing, Chára became the first Slovak to captain a Stanley Cup champion and only the second European to do so after Nicklas Lidström of Sweden for the Detroit Red Wings. He also became the first player born in a country behind the Iron Curtain to captain a Stanley Cup winner.

At the 2012 All-Star Game’s Hardest Shot skill competition, Chára raised his measured hardest slap shot velocity to another record, attaining 108.8 mph.

Chára played his 1,000th career NHL game on March 24, 2012, against the Los Angeles Kings, and the Bruins won 4–2.

In 2013, Chara and the Bruins made the Stanley Cup Final, this time losing in six games to the Chicago Black Hawks.

In February 2018, Chára played in his 1,400th NHL game in a 4–1 home-ice defeat of the Toronto Maple Leafs, only the 39th player in NHL history to reach the milestone.

On November 5, 2019, during a game at the Bell Centre against the Montreal Canadiens, Chára became the 21st player in NHL history to play 1,500 regular-season games. On April 17, 2019, in game 4 of the first-round series between the Bruins and Toronto Maple Leafs, Chára became the oldest defenceman in NHL history to score a game-winning goal in the Stanley Cup playoffs. On June 9, 2019, during game 6 of the 2019 Stanley Cup Finals against the St. Louis Blues, Chára scored an empty-net goal and became the oldest defenceman in NHL history to score a goal in the Stanley Cup Finals.

On December 30, 2020, Chára signed a one-year, $795,000 contract with the Washington Capitals. He scored his first goal with the team on January 28, 2021, against the New York Islanders.

On September 18, 2021, it was announced that Chára had signed a one-year contract with the New York Islanders. On February 24, 2022, Chára played his 1,652nd NHL game, surpassing Chris Chelios’ record of 1,651 games played by a defenceman.

On September 20, 2022, Chára announced his retirement from professional hockey. He signed a one-day contract with the Boston Bruins to officially retire as a team member.

https://amzn.to/4bX5bu5

Career statistics

Regular season and playoffs

				Regular season						Playoffs
Season	Team	League		GP	G	A	Pts	PIM		GP	G	A	Pts	PIM
1994–95	Dukla Trenčín	SVK U18		30	22	22	44	113		—	—	—	—	—
1994–95	Dukla Trenčín	SVK U20		2	0	0	0	0		—	—	—	—	—
1995–96	Dukla Trenčín	SVK U20		22	1	13	14	80		—	—	—	—	—
1995–96	Dukla Trenčín II	SVK.2		5	1	1	2	6		—	—	—	—	—
1995–96	ŠHK 37 Piešťany	SVK.2		10	1	3	4	10		—	—	—	—	—
1995–96	Sparta Praha	CZE U20		15	1	2	3	42		—	—	—	—	—
1995–96	Sparta Praha	ELH		1	0	0	0	0		—	—	—	—	—
1996–97	Prince George Cougars	WHL		49	3	19	22	120		15	1	7	8	45
1997–98	Kentucky Thoroughblades	AHL		48	4	9	13	125		1	0	0	0	4
1997–98	New York Islanders	NHL		25	0	1	1	50		—	—	—	—	—
1998–99	Lowell Lock Monsters	AHL		23	2	2	4	47		—	—	—	—	—
1998–99	New York Islanders	NHL		59	2	6	8	83		—	—	—	—	—
1999–2000	New York Islanders	NHL		65	2	9	11	57		—	—	—	—	—
2000–01	New York Islanders	NHL		82	2	7	9	157		—	—	—	—	—
2001–02	Dukla Trenčín	SVK		8	2	2	4	32		—	—	—	—	—
2001–02	Ottawa Senators	NHL		75	10	13	23	156		10	0	1	1	12
2002–03	Ottawa Senators	NHL		74	9	30	39	116		18	1	6	7	14
2003–04	Ottawa Senators	NHL		79	16	25	41	147		7	1	1	2	8
2004–05	Färjestad BK	SEL		33	10	15	25	132		13	3	5	8	82
2005–06	Ottawa Senators	NHL		71	16	27	43	135		10	1	3	4	23
2006–07	Boston Bruins	NHL		80	11	32	43	100		—	—	—	—	—
2007–08	Boston Bruins	NHL		77	17	34	51	114		7	1	1	2	12
2008–09	Boston Bruins	NHL		80	19	31	50	95		11	1	3	4	12
2009–10	Boston Bruins	NHL		80	7	37	44	87		13	2	5	7	29
2010–11	Boston Bruins	NHL		81	14	30	44	88		24	2	7	9	34
2011–12	Boston Bruins	NHL		79	12	40	52	86		7	1	2	3	8
2012–13	Lev Praha	KHL		25	4	6	10	24		—	—	—	—	—
2012–13	Boston Bruins	NHL		48	7	12	19	70		22	3	12	15	20
2013–14	Boston Bruins	NHL		77	17	23	40	66		12	2	2	4	14
2014–15	Boston Bruins	NHL		63	8	12	20	42		—	—	—	—	—
2015–16	Boston Bruins	NHL		79	9	28	37	71		—	—	—	—	—
2016–17	Boston Bruins	NHL		75	10	19	29	59		6	0	1	1	2
2017–18	Boston Bruins	NHL		73	7	17	24	60		12	1	2	3	4
2018–19	Boston Bruins	NHL		62	5	9	14	57		23	2	4	6	16
2019–20	Boston Bruins	NHL		68	5	9	14	60		13	0	2	2	8
2020–21	Washington Capitals	NHL		55	2	8	10	44		5	0	0	0	2
2021–22	New York Islanders	NHL		72	2	12	14	85		—	—	—	—	—
NHL totals				1,680	209	471	680	2,085		200	18	52	70	218

International

Year	Team	Event	Result		GP	G	A	Pts	PIM
1999	Slovakia	WC	7th		6	1	0	1	6
2000	Slovakia	WC			9	0	0	0	12
2001	Slovakia	WC	7th		7	0	1	1	10
2004	Slovakia	WC	4th		9	2	0	2	2
2004	Slovakia	WCH	7th		4	0	2	2	8
2005	Slovakia	WC	5th		7	0	2	2	2
2006	Slovakia	OG	5th		6	1	1	2	2
2007	Slovakia	WC	6th		7	3	1	4	4
2010	Slovakia	OG	4th		7	0	3	3	6
2012	Slovakia	WC			10	2	2	4	4
2014	Slovakia	OG	11th		4	0	1	1	4
2016	Team Europe	WCH			6	2	0	2	6
Senior totals					82	11	13	24	66

Awards, honors, and records

Award	Year
AHL
AHL All-Star Game	1998
AHL All-Rookie team	1998
NHL
NHL All-Star Game	2003, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2011, 2012
NHL first All-Star team	2004, 2009, 2014
NHL second All-Star team	2006, 2008, 2011, 2012
NHL All-Star Game SuperSkills Competition Hardest Shot Winner	2007, 2008, 2009, 2011, 2012
James Norris Memorial Trophy	2009
NHL 2000s All-Decade second team	2009
Stanley Cup champion	2011
Mark Messier Leadership Award	2011
NHL 2010s All-Decade second team	2020
International
IIHF World Championship silver medal	2000, 2012
IIHF World Championship All-Star team	2004, 2012
IIHF World Championship best defenceman	2012
World Cup of Hockey silver medal	2016
IIHF all-time Slovakia team	2020
IIHF Hall of Fame	2025
Boston Bruins
John P. Bucyk Award	2008, 2019
Bruins Three Stars Awards	2009
Eddie Shore Award	2012

• Elected captain of Team Chara in the 2012 National Hockey League All-Star Game.
• The Hockey News John Ferguson Award (toughest player) – 2013

Records

• Tallest player in NHL history at 6 ft 9 in (2.06 m) tall.
• First NHL player born in the Eastern Bloc to captain an NHL team to the Stanley Cup (2011).
• NHL All-Star Skills Competition hardest shot record – 108.8 mph (175.067 km/h) (2012) (surpassed his previous record from 2011 at 105.9 mph, which exceeded a second prior record of his from 2009 at 105.4 mph)
• Won the NHL All-Star Skills Competition hardest shot 5 times, the most in NHL history.
• Most game 7 Playoff appearances in NHL history.
• Oldest defenceman in NHL history to score a game-winning goal in the Stanley Cup playoffs – 42 years and 30 days.
• Oldest defenceman in NHL history to score a goal in the Stanley Cup Finals – 42 years and 83 days.
• Most games played by a defenceman in NHL history

KEEP YOUR STICK on the ICE.

The Best Place to Buy same day essay Can Be Found Here