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Zdeno Chara elected to Hockey Hall of Fame in first year of eligibility
Other inductees in the Hockey Hall of Fame's Class of 2025 include Joe Thornton and Jack Parker.
Zdeno Chara has officially earned his spot in hockey immortality.
The former Bruins captain was elected to the Hockey Hall of Fame Tuesday in his first year of eligibility, with the hulking blueliner set to be inducted as part of the Class of 2025 on Nov. 10 in Toronto.
Chara was far from the only hockey legend with Boston ties to earn a spot in the Hockey Hall of Fame’s 2025 class.
Former Bruins forward Joe Thornton was also elected in his first year of eligibility, while longtime Boston University men’s hockey head coach Jack Parker was elected in the “builder” category as part of an eight-person class.
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Chara left an indelible mark during his 14 seasons with the Bruins, helping Boston win its first Stanley Cup in 39 years and helping to cultivate a culture that has permeated the Original Six franchise since he first arrived as a free agent in 2006.
“Across his exceptional 24-year career, Zdeno put forth an unparalleled combination of size, strength, and ability each time he took the ice,” Bruins president Cam Neely said in a team statement. “He kept opponents on notice with his commanding physicality and set the tone for his teammates with a stout defensive acumen, all while having the power at any given time to unleash one of the hardest shots ever recorded.
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“His legendary leadership qualities were also continually on display, particularly when it came to his renowned off-ice conditioning which set a standard for all our players to follow.
“To put it simply, Zdeno’s skill set stands among the most unique in the century-plus history of the National Hockey League, making him enormously worthy of enshrinement into the Hockey Hall of Fame where he will be remembered forever as one of the very best to play our sport.”
Serving as Boston’s captain through his 14-year run with the Bruins, Chara appeared in 1,023 career games with the Bruins, scoring 148 goals and 333 assists for 481 points.
The 6-foot-9 defenseman ranks eighth in franchise history in games played and third in points by a defenseman (481) behind Ray Bourque (1,506) and Bobby Orr (888).
Along with helping Boston win a Cup in 2011, he also captained two Bruins teams that reached the Stanley Cup Final in 2013 and 2019.
Along with his impact on the Bruins organization, Chara also earned plenty of individual achievements with Boston — headlined by winning the Norris Trophy as the league’s top defenseman for the 2008-09 season. He finished as a top-five finalist for the Norris six times during his tenure with Boston.
While Thornton spent a majority of his career with the San Jose Sharks, the big-bodied playmaking center spent his first eight seasons with Boston after getting drafted first overall by the Bruins in the 1997 NHL Draft.
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Before the Bruins opted to trade Thornton in November 2005 (a deal that brought back now-Bruins head coach Marco Sturm), Thornton scored 454 points over 532 games with Boston.
Parker helped develop BU into a perennial college hockey powerhouse during his 40 years as the Terriers head coach from 1973-2013. Over that stretch, Parker helped the Terriers win three national championships in 1978, 1995 and 2009.
Other members of the 2025 Hall of Fame class are Duncan Keith, Alexander Mogilny, Jennifer Botterill, Brianna Decker and Daniele Sauvageau (builder category).
Botterill — who won three Olympic gold medals with Canada — played hockey at Harvard from 1998-2003. Decker spent three seasons of her pro career playing in Boston — first with the Boston Blades in 2014-15 and then with the Boston Pride from 2015-17.
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