Long before the Senators acquired Zdeno Chara in one of their best trades ever, the Islanders all looked up to their new defenceman from Slovakia.
From time to time here at The Hockey News-Ottawa, we'll dip into our new Hockey Archive to look back at some great covers, stories and moments from the past.
This cover from September 1997 features some brilliant hockey hair, but also, the concept of putting the 5-foot-10 Ziggy Palffy next to 6-foot-9 rookie Zdeno Chara is excellent.
Chara was a curiosity at the time; a prospect with size the likes of which the league had never seen. Scouts didn’t get a great look at him in Europe, but the Islanders rolled the dice on him at 56th overall in the 1996 draft. GM Mike Milbury notes in the story that his scouts wanted to pick Chara earlier, but he was concerned about the lack of viewings.
Nonetheless, Milbury’s scouts were correct – the kid who could bench-press 300 pounds and run faster than most other New York prospects ended up being an all-time great defenceman.
Chara was also part of one of the greatest trades in Senators history. Ottawa sent perennially disgruntled Alexei Yashin to the Islanders for Chara, the second overall pick (Jason Spezza) and Bill Muckalt.
Unfortunately, after just four seasons here, the Senators allowed Chara to walk into 2006 free agency, getting nothing in return. He probably would have come in handy for their Cup final appearance one year later when they lost to the Anaheim Ducks.
Chara played the next 14 years for the Boston Bruins, winning the 2009 Norris Trophy and hoisting the Stanley Cup as their captain in 2011.
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