More questions than answers

Boston Bruins

Zdeno Chara



Let's be honest, I don't make too much of an effort to get to know players on other team. Some I do but most I get to know their playing styles and how they act in competition against the Wings. I don't go out of my way to discover random facts about the players very often.

Unlike Bobby Ryan, I did not find an amazingly interesting story regarding Zdeno Chara. Other than the fact that he's circus freak tall and terrifies me, I didn't know much about Chara at all. The obvious choice for a profile would have been Tim Thomas. I mean, he's usually the player that I like to know about. American born, Michigander, and a Goalie. Instead, I decided to go the less obvious route for me. The only problem with this less obvious route... there wasn't much that I discovered about Chara that interested me.

Chara speaks Slovak, Czech, Swedish, Polish, Russian, German, and English. So basically the guy can talk shit about you in whatever language that you speak. That's pretty impressive for any one let alone a hockey player. As the captain of the Boston Bruins, I'm sure being fluent in that many languages would be a PR person's dream. He can speak to nearly all the major hockey newspapers and media outlets across the world in their native tongue.

Captain of the Boston Bruins. How did Zdeno become their captain? I'll be honest that I very rarely pay attentions to the day to day goings on of the rest of the NHL. Here and there I will but how Z got to be the Bruins captain was a mystery to me. I initially thought that when he signed with Boston he probably was an alternate captain before taking over the reigns and I was wrong.


When Zdeno Chara signed his five year contract with Boston they immediately made him their captain due to the void left by Joe Thornton. Did he really deserve it? Or was it a ploy used by the Boston Bruins to get Zdeno to leave Ottawa in favor of bean town? My guess is the later of the two. "Come here. We'll give you a large, relatively long contract and you'll be our fancy new captain!"


There were probably other qualified people that could have taken over the captaincy when Joe Thornton left such as the alternate captains but that didn't happen. I'm not questioning that Zdeno has stepped up to the plate and led the Bruins effectively. He has done that and done it relatively well (with the exception of some questionable hits and a very questionable reascended suspension).

Instead of learning more about Zdeno I was left with more "what if.." type questions: Would we be talking about Zdeno today if Boston hadn't make him the captain? Would he have performed well enough to deserve a Norris nod or would Nick Lidstrom be on Norris number eight instead of seven? Would he have even made the all star game let alone take over the hardest shot competition if Boston didn't put in on a pedestal?