Kukla's Korner Hockey

Kukla's Korner Hockey

Two Different Types Of Defensemen Retired Yesterday

09/21/2022 at 9:05am EDT

from Damien Cox at the Toronto Star,

Could you have had two more different characters?

That Zdeno Chara and P.K. Subban chose to retire on the same day created common ground between the two superb athletes that for the most part, beyond their shared extreme competitiveness, didn’t otherwise exist.

Indeed, 50 years ago, they were characters that would have been unimaginable to North America’s hockey culture. A towering 6-foot-9 defenceman from Slovakia, a country that didn’t even exist back then, and an African-American blueliner from Toronto. The imagination of the sport has surely expanded since the days a tall hockey player was 6-foot-2, only Canadians played in the NHL and black athletes were simply not seen on hockey rinks. Still, even with somewhat more diversity in the sport today, Chara and Subban both managed to leave unusual, indelible imprints on the game in a way most players simply don’t.

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Paul Kukla founded Kukla’s Korner in 2005 and the site has since become the must-read site on the ‘net for all the latest happenings around the NHL.

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