Zdeno Chara was surprised to be elected to the IIHF Hall of Fame, but he shouldn't have been

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Clearly, if not Chara for such an honor, then who?
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The Slovak-born strongman played his final NHL game three years ago at age 45, his 1,680 regular-season games ranking seventh in league history and No. 1 among defensemen. His name is on the Stanley Cup as a Bruin (2011) and he was awarded the Norris Trophy in 2009 as that season's top blue liner. He spent 14 years as Bruins captain, instilling and curating a culture woven into the club's three trips to the Cup Final (2011, '13, and '19) during his tenure.
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Chara also captained two Slovak national squads that won silver medals at the Worlds, and three times wore his country's colors at the Olympic Games (2006, '10, '14). So it should have been zero surprise when International Ice Hockey Federation president
Luc Tardif
called a couple of months ago to welcome Chara to this year's class.
Yet it was a surprise, to Chara.
'I said, 'Whoa! I mean, are you sure?,' said Big Z, chuckling as he related his back and forth with Tardif. 'And he said, 'Yeah, of course … it's been voted on … you're in!' '
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To help understand that response, understand Chara — not only for his genuinely unassuming nature and presence, but particularly for the unconventional path he traveled to the summit of his profession. Decades ago in Trencin, as a gangly and athletically awkward young teenager, his dream was not to play in the NHL or one day see his name placed next to the game's greatest European players.
'I was cut … and cut again … all I wanted to do was make my hometown team!' recalled an animated Chara. 'You move up by age groups, right? And that's automatic … good or bad, you move up. But as you progress, teams bring together two or three age groups [different birth years], that's where the cuts start and I didn't make it. Not good enough.'
In part, that underappreciation of his game and skills was what led Chara, at considerable peril, to defect to North America in the fall of '96. After the Islanders took a third-round flyer on him (pick No. 56) in the '96 draft, Chara thrived in his one season of top-level Canadian junior hockey with WHL Prince George and made his NHL debut some 18 months later.
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'Nov. 19th, 1997,' he said, recalling his NHL debut, with
Mike Milbury
then the Islanders' coach.
The date sticks in Chara's head largely because his ascension to the league, just over a year after departing Slovakia amid zero fanfare, by his description caught the Slovak national team by total surprise.
'Everybody at home is like, 'Who?! … We have a Slovak defensemen in NHL?!' ' he said, again chuckling, this time over how he ultimately was invited to play for Slovakia in the 1999 Worlds. ''We gotta bring him back to play for us.' Remember, I didn't make any youth national team, right? They had no data, no track of me.'
A complicating factor in Chara suiting up that first time for his country was that he had defected, opting for a shot at big-time hockey in North America instead of serving mandatory military service.
'I'd call home,' recalled Chara, 'and my dad would say, 'The military police were just here, looking for you … you better not come home or they'll lock you up.' '
Before flying out of New York for his return to Bratislava in the spring of '99, he had to be assured he wouldn't be hauled away once landing on Slovak terra firma.
'I swear, it was like a scene from a movie,' he said, recalling how he felt after he got off the plane back home. 'There's this one belt going around with my bag on it and I see this glass sliding door … and it's opening and closing, opening and closing. And I see this officer behind those doors. I have my passport in my hand, and I'm thinking, 'OK, this could be it … I pass through that door and somebody puts handcuffs on me and I'm done. Are the Islanders going to bail me out? Maybe, who knows?' I knew I had papers from the national team … I knew I should be OK, but…'
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He made it through the door just fine, and nearly three decades later, his name has been added to the IIHF's honored section at the Hockey Hall of Fame in Toronto.
The HHOF votes on its candidates for this year's inductees June 24, and Chara is a virtual lock to be named to the class that will be feted in November.
'If it happens it happens,' he said. 'Obviously, I'd be very, very grateful, But again, like IIHF, I know there's so many names that deserve to be there and, rightfully, they have so many great candidates that should be there. If I am there … we'll see, that's up to others to decide. Right now, I'm just enjoying my life, being a dad … but yes, it would be a tremendous, tremendous honor.'
Chara played his final NHL game three years ago at age 45, his 1,680 regular-season games ranking seventh in league history and No. 1 among all defensemen.
John Tlumacki/Globe Staff
LONG DROUGHT
Canada Cupless
since 1993
The question in the 1980s and '90s of whether the NHL would thrive in the Sun Belt faded into the twilight by the end of the 20th century, Dallas winning the Stanley Cup in 1999 (six games vs. Buffalo) in what remains Texas's lone star Cup.
If anyone still held the romantic notion that the game is best served cold, the state of Florida has smashed such thoughts to smithereens. With the Panthers clinching the East for a third straight year after
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Canada, largely due to the Oilers' powerhouse squads throughout the '80s, saw one of its teams reach the Cup Final in nine consecutive seasons, 1982-90, culminating with
Since that last Oiler triumph, a Canadian team has squeezed through to the final only eight times, with the lone win in those 35 years by the Canadiens (1993). It may be Canada's game, but this drought of 30-plus years is by far the longest in its history.
The list of Canadian runners up since '93 consists of: Vancouver ('94), Calgary (2004), Edmonton ('06), Ottawa ('07), Vancouver ('11),
If the Oilers can close the deal now, it will be the longest distance a Canadian team has gone to get the job done. Air miles, Edmonton to Sunrise, Fla.: 2,546.
ETC.
Verhaeghe
worth the wait
Former Bruins captain
Brad Marchand
, wearing No. 63 for the Panthers, is headed to the Cup Final for a fourth time (with Boston in '11, '13, and '19).
The Li'l Ball o'Hate, 4-10—14 in 17 playoff games this year, has suited up for 174 postseason games. Among active NHLers, his four trips to a Cup Final leave him short of only Edmonton's
Corey Perry
, about to begin the sixth championship round in his career.
Carter Verhaeghe
, Marchand's fellow Sunriser, also will be playing in his fourth Cup Final, his third with the Panthers. His first came in his 2019-20 rookie season, when the Lightning won the title.
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Verhaeghe, originally a Maple Leafs draft pick (No. 82 in 2013), didn't break through to the NHL until he played four full seasons in the minors (AHL/ECHL), his talents underappreciated or ignored by three organizations — Leafs, Islanders, and Lightning — before he finally secured a full-time spot as a low-budget UFA (two years/$2 million total) with the now-powerhouse Panthers.
All players develop at different rates. Some just need time to grow their game. Sometimes it's simply about right team/right fit. It was some of both for Verhaeghe, who'll possibly have his name on the Cup for a third time when he celebrates his 30th birthday in August. A left-shot center able to play the wing, he has become a consistent, vital piece of the Panthers attack.
Verhaeghe in the fall will enter the first season of an eight-year, $56 million deal he signed with Florida in October. He has full trade protection for the first five years. Just the kind of glue guy Toronto so desperately needs.
But the Leafs gave up on him early, bundling him into a package with four others in exchange for
Michael Grabner
in September 2015. Grabner played one season with Toronto, collected 18 points, then signed with the Rangers as a free agent.
Carter Verhaeghe gathers the loose puck against the Carolina Hurricanes during Game 2 of the Eastern Conference Finals.
Karl B DeBlaker/Associated Press
Swayman high on Warsofsky
Jeremy Swayman's
read on
Ryan Warsofsky
, the Team USA bench boss at the world championship that concluded last Sunday: 'Since [the time] I walked through the door, he was incredible.'
Warsofsky, who'll begin his second season as the Sharks coach this fall, was raised in Marshfield and played high school hockey for his hometown Rams, followed by a season at Cushing Academy. He moved into the top job in San Jose last summer after two years as one of
David Quinn's
assistant coaches.
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With Swayman in net for Warsofsky,
'I've got nothing to say but great things about Warsy,' offered Swayman, 'the way he carried himself and he's just so well spoken. I think he takes over a room very well. Every one of the guys in there would do anything he asked — and it takes a special kind of human to get 25 or 30 guys all on the same page within three weeks. That's a testament to his coaching ability and his style.'
Credit, too, added Swayman, to the entire Team USA staff for such a successful effort, including adapting to the bigger (200x100 feet) European/Olympic ice sheet.
'And you're playing against guys, a lot of them who've been playing with each other for a long time,' continued the Bruins' backstop. 'They have their game plans, know how to play on the [bigger sheet]. To see [Warsofsky] articulate the game and get us to play to our strengths … every one of us knew that we could have a serious chance of winning with him at the helm.
'That's something I'll never forget from him — and he's stuck with me for life now. We're pretty tight … that's pretty cool.'
With Swayman in net, the US won its first World gold since 1933.
Petr David Josek/Associated Press
Shopping list
The July 1 unrestricted free agent list includes 17 players, including Marchand and the Oilers'
Trent Frederic
, who were once property of the Bruins. The list also includes
Ryan Lindgren
, drafted by Boston at No. 49 in 2016, but dealt to the Rangers (for
Rick Nash
) before ever wearing the Spoked B.
A look at the pending UFAs, including their most recent team and cap hit (by descending order):
Forwards: Marchand, Florida $6.125 million;
Reilly Smith
, Vegas, $5 million;
Sean Kuraly
, Columbus, $2.5 million; Frederic, Edmonton, $2.3M;
Ryan Donato
, Chicago, $2 million;
Pat Maroon
, Chicago, $1.3 million;
Craig Smith
, Detroit, $1 million;
Curtis Lazar
, New Jersey, $1 million;
James van Riemsdyk
, Columbus, $900,000;
Tomas Nosek
, Florida, $775,000;
Cole Koepke
, Boston, $775,000;
Justin Brazeau
, Minnesota, $775,000.
Defensemen:
Dmitry Orlov
, Carolina, $7.75 million; Lindgren, Colorado, $4.5 million;
Matt Grzelcyk
, Pittsburgh, $2.75 million;
Derek Forbort
, Vancouver, $1.5 million;
Mike Reilly
, NY Islanders, $1.25 million.
It's not out of the question that two or three alums could be offered deals to return. Keep in mind, the Bruins were negotiating with Marchand before
Donato, 29, is coming off a career season (31-31—62) with the moribund Blackhawks (five consecutive playoff DNQs). That kind of goal production should bring him at least $4 million a year for 3-4 years. The Bruins need goal production, and Donato, who played at Harvard, was still on good terms here when dealt to the Wild for
Charlie Coyle
(
Grzelcyk, 31, delivered 1-39—40 (career bests for assists and points) this season with the Penguins , who are yet to name a new coach to replace
Mike Sullivan
. He would not answer the Bruins' need for a power-play quarterback, but he's a good puck mover and defends well with his feet and stick. Maybe two years/$5 million total?
Kuraly, 32, left to go home to Columbus in the summer of '21 for a sweet four-year/$10 million deal. A solid citizen with size (6 feet 2 inches, 215 pounds), he'd be a good, heavy bottom-six addition on a one- or two-year deal at, say, $1.4 million per.
Maroon, by the way, announced his retirement as his season came to a close with the Blackhawks — his eighth NHL employer over a career that included 848 games and three Cup rings.
Loose pucks
Marco Sturm
, then 27, proved to be the best of the three assets (along with
Wayne Primeau
and
Brad Stuart
) the Bruins acquired from San Jose in the infamous Nov. 30, 2005, deal that sent Jumbo
Joe Thornton
to the Sharks. Also known as 'The German,' Sturm remained in Boston for four more seasons, then was dished to the Kings early in 2010-11, in what was the season the Bruins won the Cup. Among the candidates believed to be interviewing to be the next Bruins bench boss, Sturm, 46, in the spring wrapped up his third season as coach of the Ontario (Calif.) Reign, the Kings' AHL affiliate. They were knocked out, 2-0, in a best-of-three vs. the San Jose Barracuda in the Calder Cup playoffs … Thornton, like
Zdeno
Chara
, has been out of the NHL for three seasons and likely will be a first-ballot shoo-in to the Hockey Hall of Fame. Jumbo (1,539 career points) never won a Cup. His only trip to the Final was in '16,
Henri Richard
(Montreal),
Jean Beliveau
(Montreal),
Red Kelly
(Detroit, Toronto),
Maurice
'Rocket'
Richard
(Montreal). Henri Richard, aka The Pocket Rocket, took home a ring from 11 of those 12 visits … Former forward
Jeff Halpern
(976 games) just wrapped up his seventh season as one of
John Cooper's
assistants in Tampa. Seems the Lightning's two Cups and three trips to the Final with him on the beat should be getting the '99 Princeton grad some head coach looks … The rumor mill in recent days has had
Mitch Love
(Capitals assistant),
Jay Woodcroft
, and Sturm all certain to be the Bruins' next coach. With apologies to Chief Brody, looks like you're gonna need a bigger bench.
Kevin Paul Dupont can be reached at