The Boston Bruins are honoring legendary franchise defenseman Zdeno Chara by placing his No. 33 in the rafters at TD Garden.
Chara’s jersey will be retired on Jan. 15 ahead of a home game against the Seattle Kraken, according to the Bruins.
Chara served as team captain in each of his 14 seasons with the Bruins from 2006 to 2020. He won the Norris Trophy in 2009 and led his team to a Stanley Cup championship in 2011.
He originally played five seasons for the New York Islanders and four with the Ottawa Senators before he signed with the Bruins in 2006.
That was when the 6-foot-9 blueliner cemented himself as one of the most challenging matchups in the NHL. He earned All-Star nods in five of his first six seasons in Boston, and won the NHL’s Hardest Shot competition five times over that span.
Chara beat out Red Wings legend Nicklas Lidstrom for the Norris Trophy after a 50-point campaign in 2009. Two years later he remained a fixture on the blue line as the Bruins won a championship for the first time in 39 years.
After two more trips to the Stanley Cup Final in 2011 and 2019, Chara left Boston in free agency to spend the final two seasons of his NHL career with the Washington Capitals and the Islanders. He announced his retirement from playing in 2022.
Chara ranks eighth in Bruins history with 1,023 career games played and seventh with 1,055 penalty minutes.
For his accomplishments in the NHL as well as his international competition with Slovakia, which he represented at three Olympic Games, two World Cups of Hockey and seven IIHF World Championships, Chara was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 2025.
Chara is the 13th person and first European player to have his number retired by the Bruins. The franchise has previously retired Willie O’Ree’s No. 22, Rick Middleton’s No. 16, Cam Neely’s No. 8, Ray Bourque’s No. 77, Phil Esposito’s No. 7, Johnny Bucyk’s No. 9, Bobby Orr’s No. 4, Milt Schmidt’s No. 15, Eddie Shore’s No. 2, Aubrey “Dit” Clapper’s No. 5 and Lionel Hitchman’s No. 3.
