Zdeno Chara is the current Boston Bruins player most likely to have his number raised to the TD Garden rafters. So too is a likely Hall Of Fame induction once he retires; he can truly cement that legacy with a second Stanley Cup.
Zdeno Chara is a six-time NHL All-Star, a Norris Trophy winner, holds the record for the fastest shot ever recorded at the All-Star Weekend, won the Mark Messier Leadership Award in 2011, as well as lifting the Stanley Cup as captain of the Boston Bruins that year.
His accomplishments already speak for themselves and given he didn’t grow up in the United States or Canada, hockey’s heartlands; you’d assume he’s an even better shot at eventually being named to the Hall Of Fame.
A Stanley Cup win in 2019 would all but guarantee it. Not for the fact it makes him a two-time Stanley Cup champion, but for the fact he’d be achieving it as a 42 year-old in a young man’s game and with a broken jaw. Nothing screams leader more than playing through what is anything but just a simple niggling injury.
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For Zdeno Chara to lift the Stanley Cup this year would be the absolute icing on the cake. The Boston Bruins defenseman has had to adapt his game to changing times; to faster foot speeds and slicker mitts. Thankfully, his incredible wingspan and reach has made this a less taxing transition!
Players have won the Stanley Cup in the past nursing injuries, it’s part and parcel of going all the way. Zdeno Chara is almost taking the cake by maintaining a level of dominance in the Stanley Cup Final despite now having played two games with a broken jaw, with the third, most decisive one all but assured.
To win the Stanley Cup in this Game 7 whilst he is severely injured sums up the character, the leadership and everything we have come to expect of the Boston Bruins captain.
Not only is he leading his team into this Game 7, he is doing so with a dominant +12 plus/minus and partnered with a 21 year-old. He’s not only managing his own defensive game, but he’s teaching a young player in Charlie McAvoy exactly what it takes to perform at the most elite level.
Boston, as a city, has been lucky enough to have many championship players over the years, whether that’s David Ortiz and his Boston Red Sox or Tom Brady and the New England Patriots, even Bobby Orr and the Boston Bruins. Zdeno Chara is very much deserving of being listed in that same company.
Winning this Game 7 will see Zdeno Chara’s legacy cemented as one of the Boston Bruins greats. Think Bobby Orr, Ray Bourque and Zdeno Chara – they all deserve to be mentioned in the same sentence.