Boston Bruins captain Zdeno Chara signs on with Prague of KHL -NHL Update
Boston Bruins captain and veteran defenseman, Zdeno Chara, has become the next player to have left and join the Russian, Kontinental Hockey League (KHL), keeping the lockout in view. It was reported that he joined Parague, according to his agent who told
ESPN.com on Tuesday, October 2, 2012.
This is not the first time that Chara is looking forward to playing for Parague in the Russian league as he also played as a junior player back in the 1995-1996 hockey year with HC Sparta.
"Close to home in Slovakia, knows guys on the team and has played in Prague before so he is comfortable there," his agent Matt Keator told ESPN via email.
Chara is a 35-year-old from Trencin, Slovakia and was drafted in the National Hockey League (NHL) by New York Islanders during the 1996 Entry Draft as the 56th overall in the third round.
He has had a colourful career by playing not only for the New York Islanders, but also Ottawa Senators and Boston Bruins up until now. He was a major factor why the Boston Bruins won the Stanley Cup championship for the first time in over 40 years back in
2011 by knocking out the Vancouver Canucks in a tight seven game competition.
Last season, Zdeno Chara put up 52 points, consisting of 12 goals and 40 assists along with 86 minutes in penalty time in the 79 games he played in, giving him a spectacular plus-minus rating of positive 33.
In a total of 1,007 games played in the North American major league throughout his career, Zdeno Chara hold 459 points (137 goals, 322 assists) to his name.
With Chara being the eight player from the Boston Bruins to have gone overseas to continue playing hockey, recent reports point out Patrice Bergeron as being the next, he told ESPNBoston.com, via a text message, that he is leaving to go play with Lugano.
"I know it's a great league, fast pace, high tempo and a great country," Bergeron said. "The overall situation seemed perfect for me to go work on my game and try to help Lugano as much as I can."
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