Zdeno Chára (; born 18 March 1977) is a Slovak professional ice hockey defenceman for the Washington Capitals of the National Hockey League. He previously played for the New York Islanders, Ottawa Senators, and Boston Bruins. He served as the Bruins’ captain for all of his 14 seasons with the team, and won the Norris Trophy in 2009. He is the second European-born and raised captain to win the Stanley Cup, and the first born and trained in a country within the Iron Curtain. Standing at 6 ft 9 in tall, he is the tallest person ever to play in the NHL, earning him the nickname “Big Z”
About Zdeno Chára in brief
Zdeno Chára (; born 18 March 1977) is a Slovak professional ice hockey defenceman for the Washington Capitals of the National Hockey League. He previously played for the New York Islanders, Ottawa Senators, and Boston Bruins. He served as the Bruins’ captain for all of his 14 seasons with the team, and won the Norris Trophy in 2009. He is the second European-born and raised captain to win the Stanley Cup, and the first born and trained in a country within the Iron Curtain. Standing at 6 ft 9 in tall, he is the tallest person ever to play in the NHL, earning him the nickname “Big Z” and the nickname of his favourite team, the Ottawa Senators. He was named to the NHL All-Star Team for the 2007-08 season, where he recorded the second-hardest shot behind Al MacInnis in the Skills Competition. He also won the hardest shot segment of the preceding Skills Competition, clocking a 100 mph shot at 4 mph. He became the third Slovak-born NHL player to become a team captain, after Peter Žastný of the Quebec Nordiques and Stanislav Stanita of the Chicago Blackhawks. He has a son, Zdeno Jr., and a daughter, Zdena, who play for the Toronto Maple Leafs and the Vancouver Canucks respectively. He played in the World Hockey Association World Championship in 2010 and the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia.
He won a gold medal at the 2010 Winter Olympics for his role as a member of the Slovak national team in the 2010 World Cup of Hockey. His father, Zlatan, is a former Slovakian international hockey player who played at the World Championship. His daughter, Zlata, plays for the Montreal Canadiens of the Canadian Hockey League, and is the daughter of former Czech international hockey star, Stanislas Stanikov. His son, Slovakian-born Zlatan Jr., is a professional hockey player, too, playing for the Montreal Saint-Maurice Canadiens and the Slovenian Borussia Monchengladbach Red Wings. His wife, Katerina, was born on 18 March 1993, in Bratislava, Slovakia. He had two children, Sasha, and a daughter Sylvia, who plays for the Viktor Stalock of the Czech Republic and Bosnia and Herzegovina of the KHL. He currently lives in the United States with his wife and two daughters, Stephanie and Grigorii. He is the son of former NHL player and former New York Islander, Micheal Chára, and has three children. He spent his first season in North America with the Prince George Cougars of the Western Hockey League (WHL). He was selected in the 1996 CHL Import Draft.
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