Zdeno Chára - The world’s tallest hockey player

Zdeno towering over his opponent

Zdeno Chára (pronounced /’zdeno ‘xaːra/, born March 18, 1977) is a Slovak ice hockey defenceman and team captain of Boston Bruins of the National Hockey League (NHL). At 6 ft 9 in (2.06 m), he is the tallest player ever to play in the NHL

Chára was drafted 56th overall by the New York Islanders in the 1996 NHL Entry Draft. After four seasons with the Islanders, he was traded to the Ottawa Senators during the 2001 NHL Entry Draft. Chára was part of a package deal with Bill Muckalt and the second overall pick in that year’s draft (Jason Spezza) that sent Alexei Yashin to New York.

As a Senator for four years, Chára emerged as an elite defenceman in the league and more than doubled his previous offensive totals in his first season with Ottawa. In his second season with the team, 2002–03, Chára made his first All-Star Game appearance and recorded the second hardest shot behind Al MacInnis in the skills competition.

The next season, in addition to posting 16 goals and 41 points, Chára recorded the league’s third highest plus/minus, behind Martin St. Louis and Marek Malik, culminating into his first Norris Trophy nomination. Although he would lose to Scott Niedermayer as the league’s best defenceman, he would join Niedermayer on the NHL First All-Star Team.

After the 2004–05 NHL lockout, in which Chára played in the Swedish Elite League for Färjestad, he matched his previous NHL season’s 16-goal total and increased to 43 points, good enough for NHL Second All-Star Team honours. As Chára’s would not come to terms to a new contract with Ottawa, he became an unrestricted free agent at the end of 2005–06.

Subsequently, on July 1, 2006, he signed a five-year, $37.5 million contract with the Boston Bruins and was named the team’s captain, a role left vacant since Joe Thornton’s departure during the 2005–06 season. He became only the third Slovakian-born NHL player to become a team captain, after Peter Stastny of the Quebec Nordiques and Stan Mikita (co-captain) of the Chicago Blackhawks. He was named to the 2007 All-Star Game, his second appearance, in Dallas and scored two goals in an 12–9 Eastern Conference loss. Chára also won the hardest shot segment of the preceding skills competition, clocking a shot at 100.4 mph.

In 2008, he was voted in as a starter in the All-Star Game for the first time in his career and repeated as the winner of the hardest shot competition, recording an even-faster 103.1 mph (166 km/h) on the radar gun. On March 8, 2008, during a game against the Washington Capitals, Chára suffered a torn labrum in his left shoulder. However, after missing five games, he played the remainder of the season including the playoffs. Upon a first round elimination at the hands of the Montreal Canadiens, he underwent a shoulder operation on April 29. 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 increased his previous season’s points total.

In 2008–09, Chára was named to his fourth All-Star Game.

Preceding text, shamelessly stolen from wikipedia.