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Bruins legend Zdeno Chara reflects on getting his No. 33 retired
"I just did what I wanted to do. What I felt was the right thing to do. And what I love to do. I have so much passion for it. I just did my job."
Zdeno Chara’s resume speaks for itself.
Over 14 seasons with the Bruins — all with a “C” switched onto his sweater — Chara anchored Boston’s blue line while helping to cultivate a culture whose vestiges are still woven into the fabric of this current roster.
Chara helped lead Boston to its first Stanley Cup in 39 years in 2011, while captaining his club to another two Stanley Cup Final appearances in 2013 and 2019.
He closed out his career with the most games ever played by a defenseman in NHL history, while his 14 Game 7 appearances are tied for the most in league history alongside his longtime Bruins teammate, Patrice Bergeron.
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Add in a Norris Trophy win in 2008-09 — to go along with eight other top-five finishes in the voting for the league’s top defenseman — and it comes as little surprise that the 48-year-old Chara will earn a spot in the Hockey Hall of Fame in November.
Just a few months later, his No. 33 jersey will also be raised to the TD Garden rafters in recognition as one of the pillars of this Original Six franchise.
But for all that he has achieved across the span of his career with Boston, Chara was candid Monday when asked when he thought he’d see No. 33 placed alongside other greats above the TD Garden ice like Bobby Orr, Ray Bourque, and Eddie Shore.
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“I mean, that’s something — that’s not what you’re playing for,” Chara said. “You’re playing to win, playing to get championships. The focus is strictly on winning and championships, you are not really focusing on yourself and being identified this way and being. … So I wasn’t really thinking about that.
“I was more focused on doing what I could do and help the team. And, like I said, winning — that’s all we care about.”
It was a fitting response for a player whose presence on the ice as a 6-foot-9 imposing defenseman also carried over into the dressing room as the tone-setting and steadying voice for a Bruins franchise on the upswing.
As valuable as Chara was as a minutes-eating, defensive equalizer for Boston, it was his role in building up a winning culture alongside younger players like Bergeron that allowed Boston to remain entrenched as a contender for more than two decades — even after he left the team in 2020.
For Chara, who was named captain before even playing his first game with Boston, the first step toward building a contender has to involve getting players to buy in off the ice.
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“I knew the history and what this team had in many years before I arrived,” Chara said. “And you try to embrace it, and also acknowledge that you are not going to be — I’m not going to be Bobby Orr. I’m not going to be Ray Bourque. But at the same time, I knew that I wanted to be myself and lead my way.
“And do it in maybe different ways than they did before, but it’s still in the form of that identity and structure that this team had for a long time. So that’s what I did. I was just really embracing that role and tried to lead the team, my teammates, in that direction. And it was a lot of fun, but it took the whole team. Again, it took commitment from everybody.”
That approach has carried over toward this team, especially with players who skated alongside Chara like David Pastrnak, Charlie McAvoy, and Sean Kuraly.
“It’s well-deserved from him and family and everything he’s done for hockey, not only over here but back home in Czechia and Slovakia,” Pastrnak of Chara. “I think he was and is still an idol for many, many young players. It’s very well-deserved. I can’t wait for the night. I can’t wait to see him celebrate with his family. Well-deserved and not surprising.”
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Chara will look to help Boston’s top players continue to establish their own leadership hierarchy moving forward in his official role as the team’s hockey operations advisor and mentor.
As he reflected on his 14 years with Boston, Chara once again brushed aside talk when asked of a singular moment that defined his time with the Bruins.
On script, he instead deflected to the collective effort put forth by some of the teams he captained.
“It’s hard to really pick a defining moment for myself. I think we all witness different players sacrificing in different times, and that’s also part of the identity that we created. … But in my opinion, I just did what I wanted to do. What I felt was the right thing to do. And what I love to do. I have so much passion for it. I just did my job.”
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