Boston Bruins defenceman Zdeno Chara has been named the club’s captain. Chara becomes the 18th captain in the 82-year history of the team and joins such great Bruins as John Bucyk, Dit Clapper, Milt Schmidt, Cooney Weiland, Terry O’Reilly and Ray Bourque on the club’s all-time captain’s roster.
The Bruins also announced that Patrice Bergeron and Glen Murray have been named as assistant captains of the team.
Chara becomes just the third Slovakian-born player to wear a captain’s ‘C’ for a National Hockey League team. Peter Stastny of Bratislava, Slovakia served as the Quebec Nordiques’ captain from 1975-1980 and Stan Mikita, born in Sokolce, Slovakia, but raised in Canada, was a co-captain of the Chicago Blackhawks with Pit Martin from 1975-1977.
Chara, 29, enters his ninth NHL season, his first with the Bruins since signing with the team as a free agent on July 1, 2006. He was drafted by the NY Islanders as their third pick, 56th overall, in the 1996 NHL Entry Draft out of his native Slovakia. He turned professional in 1997 following one season of junior hockey with Prince George of the Western Hockey League. He split his first two pro seasons between the NY Islanders and their AHL affiliates in Kentucky and Lowell, earning AHL All-Rookie Team honors with Kentucky in 1997-98, despite playing just 48 AHL games that season.
