Zdeno Chara To Tie NHL Record On Tuesday, Set New Mark On Thursday
BOSTON (CBS) -- At 44 years old, Zdeno Chara is still suiting up every night for the New York Islanders. On Tuesday night, he'll hit a major milestone.
When the Islanders visit the Seattle Kraken on Tuesday night, Chara will be playing in his 1,651st regular-season game. In doing so, he will tie Chris Chelios for most NHL games played by a defenseman in NHL history.
Provided Chara suffers no setbacks, he'll set a new record for games played by an NHL defenseman on Thursday night in San Jose.
"I'm not going to say I'm happy, but it doesn't bother me one bit that a guy like him is the guy breaking the record," Chelios told NHL.com. "Congratulations to him, it's a heck of a feat."
In terms of overall games played, Chara will move in to eighth place all time on the games played list, behind forwards Mark Recchi, Joe Thornton, Ron Francis, Jaromir Jagr, Mark Messier, Gordie Howe, and Patrick Marleau.
Chara will pass Recchi (1,652) to move in to seventh on the all-time list on Sunday.
Chara, who will turn 45 years old in March, played most of his games -- 1,023, to be exact -- with the Bruins. He played 299 games for the Ottawa Senators, 55 games for the Washington Capitals, and 273 games in his two stints with the Islanders.
In terms of postseason games, Chara's played in 200, tied for 22nd-most of all time. Chelios is the leader in that category with 266, with two other members of the regular-season leaders -- Messier, Jagr -- also outranking Chara in that category.
Chara is unlikely to add to the postseason total if he remains with the Islanders through the trade deadline, as the team sits 19 points out of the final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference.