Boston Bruins defenseman Zdeno Chara isn't yet pondering retirement, even while the 2019-20 season is on pause.
"Definitely not getting ahead of myself. I'm still in the present and I still believe that we're going to play some sort of hockey this season," Chara said on Sportsnet's "After Hours."
He added: "That's where I'm at. I'm not getting too ahead of myself. Obviously I still love the game, I still love going out there and compete, and if everything is right I still want to play."
The 43-year-old Chara is in his 22nd NHL campaign and has spent the last 14 years with the Bruins. He's the only active player from the 1996 draft class and has appeared in 1,553 career games.
"Very honored and privileged to play 1,000 games with the Bruins, over 1,500 games in this league," Chara said. "I've said it many times, I'm very grateful and I'm very lucky to be able to play with so many great teammates and under so many great coaches and good organizations."
The former Norris Trophy winner has amassed 205 goals and 656 points throughout his career, which included stints with the Ottawa Senators and New York Islanders. Chara also captured a Stanley Cup with Boston in 2011 - one of three times he led the Bruins to the Cup Final as captain.
The veteran is set to become a free agent at the conclusion of the 2019-20 campaign. He signed back-to-back one-year deals with the Bruins for the past two seasons.
With the pandemic suspending sporting events worldwide, athletes suddenly have tons of time on their hands. In the latest installment of our weekly NHL series, we look at how they've been keeping themselves entertained - and in shape - while self-isolating.
Ovechkin flexes on The Great One
Typically, if you're going toe to toe with the greatest hockey player of all time, you might want to be a little reserved. That is, unless you're Alex Ovechkin. While the two faced off in a couple of games of NHL 20, raising over $40,000 for charity in the process, Ovechkin celebrated a buzzer-beater game-tying goal the only way he knows how - by screaming at the top of his lungs. Never change, Ovi.
Kendall Coyne Schofield measures in at 5-foot-2 and 125 pounds while her husband, Michael Schofield - an NFL player - clocks in at a towering 6-foot-7, 310 pounds. Kendall shows off some incredible strength by somehow doing a few squats with her husband on her back. Beast mode.
β Kendall Coyne Schofield (@KendallCoyne) April 20, 2020
Marner is a different breed
The Maple Leafs forward is surely missing his teammates on the ice, but is making the most of what he has available to him. Here, he shows off his slick stickhandling on his driveway while teasing his dog in a long game of keep-away.
Patrick and his wife Christina Marleau took some time to take on the whisper challenge, and Patrick didn't bode well at all. After two minutes of trying to guess a pretty simple - but odd - phrase, Patrick had to give up. Maybe stick to hockey.
Itβs 2 mins long, but if you want to watch P + I playing the @jimmyfallon whisper challenge, itβs hilarious. Also, please come to my memorial cuz heβs gonna kill me π Phrases were written by my sis and BIL, we are isolating with them...Twizzlers do not give me tummy probs pic.twitter.com/BFGrEUtdAS
The Tkachuk brothers have been keeping busy with each other at home. This week they tackled a game of pickleball and had a tightly contested match while father Keith watched and provided some entertaining play-by-play.
π STUCK WITH THE TKACHUKS π
Week 3 Challenge: @TKACHUKycheese_ and @BradyTkachuk71 face off in a game of Pickleball β accompanied by some legendary play-by-play. π π
Imagine going outside to play some road hockey with your neighbors and you're met by two NHL stars and a future top prospect? That would be the Hughes brothers - Quinn, Jack, and Luke. The trio laced up their blades and took to the streets just like the good old days.
How'd you like to play a little road hockey with the Hughes brothers? #HockeyAtHome
Pittsburgh Penguins star Sidney Crosby offered a message of support to his fellow Nova Scotians while his home province continues to grieve the deaths of 22 people lost in a shooting last week.
"I'm in Pittsburgh, but being from Nova Scotia, my heart and mind is home with all of you," Crosby said. "I'd like to extend my condolences to all the family and friends affected by this tragedy, as well to the family of Constable Heidi Stevenson from Cole Harbour, who sacrificed her life protecting others. Iβd like to thank all the first responders and, as well, the medical personnel that faced this nightmare head on to keep us all safe.
"I know weβll stick together as we always do through challenging times, and help support those who need it the most. Iβm sending all my love and support back home."
Cole Harbour, N.S. native Sidney Crosby sends his love and support back home to grieving Nova Scotia β€οΈ@CBCNSpic.twitter.com/kjypBXbadA
β Hockey Night in Canada (@hockeynight) April 25, 2020
Crosby, who was born in Halifax, grew up in Cole Harbour - a town where one of the victims, Constable Heidi Stevenson, was from. He was one of several Nova Scotian athletes to offer thoughts and prayers to the province.
The NHL should be deep into postseason action, but with the start of the 2019-20 playoffs delayed, theScore's hockey editors are picking their favorite Game 7s from years past.
We're now looking back at how one of the biggest recent playoff upsets concluded. The Montreal Canadiens, with goaltender Jaroslav Halak leading the way, walked into Washington to defeat the Presidents' Trophy-winning Capitals in a thrilling Game 7 during the opening round of the 2009-10 playoffs.
The setup
The Capitals just finished their most dominant regular season of all time, winning the team's first Presidents' Trophy. A young Alex Ovechkin was fresh off a 50-goal, 109-point campaign, and he was looking to keep things rolling in the postseason, with the Capitals entering as the No. 1 seed in the East.
The 2009-10 season was a special one for the Canadiens, as it was their 100th anniversary. After hosting the 2009 NHL Draft and All-Star Game, Montreal managed to squeeze into the playoffs as the eighth seed, beating out the New York Rangers by one point.
The Capitals couldn't have asked for a better first-round matchup on paper. They had scored 99 more goals than the Canadiens that season while racking up 15 more regulation wins, and they were 33 points ahead of Montreal in the standings.
However, what should have been an easy series win was far from it.
The series
Jim McIsaac / Getty Images Sport / Getty
The Canadiens' Carey Price and Halak split starts in goal evenly all season long. But come playoff time, Halak was given the nod, helping to stun the Capitals in Game 1 while stopping 45 of 47 shots. But the Canadiens went on to drop the next three games to go down 3-1 in the series.
On the brink of elimination, Halak went superhuman. He stopped 37 of 38 shots in Game 5 to keep the Habs alive, and the then 24-year-old one-upped his performance by stopping 53 of 54 shots in Game 6 to force a Game 7.
Through six games, Washington was outshooting Montreal 250 to 178, but only outscoring the Habs 21 to 18. With Halak playing on another level and the Capitals unable to solve him, Montreal headed to Washington ready to steal the series.
The game
Francois Lacasse / National Hockey League / Getty
The star: This one is a no-brainer, and it's evident who the game's single star was just by simply looking at the box score. Halak gets all the credit again after stepping up when it mattered most against the league's best offensive team.
Facing pressure all night long, he stopped 41 of 42 shots and blanked the Capitals on their three power-play opportunities. He helped steer the Canadiens, who mustered just 16 shots on goal, to an improbable victory.
The X-factor(s): Canadiens defenseman Marc-Andre Bergeron played just 4:06 in Game 7. But he made the most of his limited ice time, blasting home a power-play goal in the dying seconds of the first period to give the Habs a 1-0 lead they didn't relinquish.
The Canadiens' defense was abysmal in the series. However, the team blocked an incredible 41 shots from the Capitals in Game 7, with big-bodied Hal Gill leading (six blocks).
The key moment: To start the third period, the Capitals were still trying to figure out how to get one past the brick wall standing in the Canadiens' net. Minutes into the frame, Ovechkin thought he tied the game with a wicked wrist shot.
While the team and fans were busy celebrating, they all failed to realize the referee waived the goal off due to Mike Knuble's goaltender interference. The Capitals returned to square one with their backs against the wall.
The highlight
Dominic Moore, one of Montreal's trade-deadline acquisitions that season, proved the deal to get him was absolutely worth it by potting the most crucial goal of the series. With Washington pressing hard, the Canadiens broke out, and Moore pounced on the opportunity.
The Canadiens knew that with three-and-a-half minutes left, their 2-0 lead wasn't necessarily safe. The Capitals' Brooks Laich scored one minute later, but the Canadiens were able to hold onto the lead and close out the game, with Moore's tally standing as the series-winner.
The fallout
Len Redkoles / National Hockey League / Getty
After stunning the Capitals in the first round, the Canadiens took on the defending champion Pittsburgh Penguins. With gas still left in the tank, the Canadiens and Halak also upset the Penguins in seven games. Then things fell apart when the Philadelphia Flyers dropped Montreal in five games in the Eastern Conference Final.
That summer, both Halak and Price became restricted free agents. Price was clearly the goalie of the future in Montreal, but Halak's playoff performance still made the decision between the two extremely tough.
Ultimately, the Canadiens rolled the dice and stuck with Price, trading Halak to the St. Louis Blues in exchange for Lars Eller and Ian Schultz. Eller quickly became a fan favorite and spent six seasons in Montreal, while Schultz never suited up in an NHL game.
Halak has enjoyed success with the Blues, New York Islanders, and Boston Bruins since being dealt. His departure ushered in a new era for the Canadiens, with future Hart Trophy winner Price anchoring the team. Montreal has returned to the conference final once with Price, but otherwise the club hasn't accomplished much.
The Canadiens' 2009-10 playoff run may not have resulted in a Stanley Cup, but Halak put together one of the most memorable postseason performances we've seen in a long time.
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Boston Bruins president Cam Neely still believes there's a great possibility this NHL season can be completed without affecting next year.
"I can tell you this. Both the players and NHL ownership want to do whatever possible to get this season completed," Neely said, according to NBC Sports Boston's Joe Haggerty. "If that means playing into the summer then we're all willing to do that. The feeling is thereβs an opportunity to be able to push next season back and still get an 82-game schedule in next year. Everything is on the table to try and get the (2019-20) season completed."
The most recent idea that has been floated around is using hub cities to host the remainder of the season's games. There was also a report earlier this week that an NHL team told its players to plan to return for workouts starting May 15.
Neely added he believes the NHLPA wouldn't approve a scenario to resume the season if it meant it had to jump directly into the playoffs, and that regular-season games will be needed to ramp up to the postseason.
The Bruins stood atop the league's standings with a 44-14-12 record and were primed for another deep playoff run after making the Stanley Cup Final last season.
The Taylor or Tyler debate began to brew ahead of the 2010 NHL Draft when Taylor Hall and Tyler Seguin were neck and neck to be picked first overall. Before they had even entered the league, the two were seemingly on opposite sides of a rivalry.
Ten years later, Seguin says there's no ulterior competition between the two.
"I got to know him, we're always still nice to each other, never had any beef. Never, Taylor/Tyler massive competition," the Dallas Stars forward said, according to The Athletic's Craig Custance. "I always secretly cheer for him and watch his career."
He continued: "We're competitive pro athletes, right? I was happy as anyone else when he won the MVP, seeing what he went through, leaving Edmonton. I left Boston.
"There's so many things where weβve gone separate ways in our career, and there are so many things that are the same in our career. "
With no consensus top prospect in the 2010 draft, it was virtually a toss-up as to who would go first on draft day. Seguin revealed that he and Hall even traveled to Edmonton and Boston together before the draft to meet with the Oilers and Bruins, who owned the first and second picks, respectively.
The Oilers ultimately selected Hall first, and the Bruins gladly settled for Seguin. But neither player's tenure with the team that drafted him went as planned.
Edmonton dealt Hall to the New Jersey Devils in 2016 after never making the playoffs in six seasons since drafting him. Seguin didn't last as long in Boston. The Bruins traded him to Dallas - where he blossomed into a star - in 2013.
While the two 28-year-olds have both enjoyed successful NHL careers so far, Seguin hasn't succumbed to outside pressure to fuel a rivalry with Hall.
"People always look for this hidden rivalry, don't like each other," he said. "I like Taylor a lot, I love his hockey game, I definitely am a fan of his and follow his career. I want him to get in the playoffs, heβs worked so hard to get there."
Hall hasn't had many opportunities to play in the postseason, making the playoffs just once since entering the league. Seguin, who won a Stanley Cup with the Bruins his rookie season, has appeared in 62 playoff games.
Seguin has managed 279 goals and 635 points in 741 career games. Hall has racked up 218 goals and 563 points in 627 career games and was named league MVP in 2018.
It's no secret the Los Angeles Kings' Drew Doughty and Calgary Flames forward Matthew Tkachuk aren't huge fans of each other. So when Doughty's teammate Ben Hutton got the defenseman for the team's Secret Santa gift exchange, he came up with the perfect present: a signed stick from Doughty's rival.
"I might be ruining it, saying this because he (Doughty) still doesnβt know itβs me,β Hutton said on The Athletic's "Point Breakaway" podcast. βIf he listens to this, heβll know that for Secret Santa I ended up getting him a Matthew Tkachuk stick.
βIt was signed by him and everything. I wrote a little message on it. He (Doughty) was going around the locker room trying to figure out who it was. None of the boys were snitching on me. So that was pretty good.β
The rivalry dates back to Tkachuk's rookie season in 2016-17, when he was suspended for two games for elbowing Doughty in the head. The two have exchanged insults on numerous occasions, with Doughty saying he has "no respect" for Tkachuk, to which the youngster responded that he doesn't care and will still "sleep like a baby."
Hutton also revealed Tkachuk was in on the gag. Despite the beef, the 22-year-old was willing to participate.
βI got our trainers to do it,β Hutton said. βWe were flying to Calgary when we were doing (the Secret Santa gift exchange), so it just clicked in my head. I asked our trainers, and once they told (Tkachuk) who it was for, he was all for it.β
Doughty may have gotten the short end of the stick by being kept in the dark, but it's still good to see two rivals knowing how to have fun with one another.
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Maple Leafs Sports & Entertainment is using Scotiabank Arena, home of the Toronto Maple Leafs and Toronto Raptors, to prepare 10,000 meals a day for the city's frontline health-care workers and their families, the organization announced Friday.
With the help from its partners, MLSE has transformed the floor of the arena to a massive food production line. It is planning to run the program five days a week through the month of June, delivering approximately 500,000 meals, according to The Toronto Star's Neil Davidson.
"We're learning as we go," MLSE's vice president of food and beverage Dan Morrow said, according to Davidson. "We learned that cooking 5,000 pounds of pasta takes a long time."
Meals will also be delivered to shelters and community agencies throughout Toronto and to hospitals during shift changes. The goal is to catch frontline health-care workers going home and to provide them with a meal for four.
"These individually packaged meals are critical. And we didn't have any to give out," Second Harvest CEO Lori Nikkel said. "This is a time, with COVID, that you really need the meals. You need the food but you really need the meals."
The operation began with making 2,800 meals per day and has been steadily increasing its production. As they gear up to make 50,000 meals a week, there will be approximately 90 people working to get the job done.
Toronto Maple Leafs forward Jason Spezza had the chance to play for his hometown team this season, and he's hoping he can continue to do so.
"I definitely feel I have game left," the veteran said, according to Sportsnet's Luke Fox. "And there's nowhere else I'd rather be than play another year here in Toronto."
The Mississauga, Ontario, native signed a one-year, $700,000 deal with the Maple Leafs last summer and is set to become an unrestricted free agent this offseason.
Spezza will turn 37 in June. He's filled a bottom-six role nicely for Toronto, recording nine goals and 16 assists in 58 games while averaging 10:50 minutes of ice time.
He has skated in 1,123 career games, racking up 341 goals and 599 assists.
Washington Capitals star Alex Ovechkin is beginning to enter the tail end of his career, but he's still not exactly sure when he'll call it quits for good.
"We'll see, I have one more year after this season and we'll see," Ovechkin said in an interview with NBC Sport's Kathryn Tappen and Wayne Gretzky Tuesday. "I'm healthy, thank God, and I still love this game. As soon as I'm not going to love this game, I'm not going to cheat on it. I respect it a lot, and I don't want to put my name on the caliber players who just play out there and take somebody's spots. I don't want to do that."
Ovechkin, 34, is set to enter unknown territory as he approaches free agency. He has one more season left on the 13-year extension he signed with the Capitals in 2008 - the only contract he's signed following his rookie deal. The veteran will be 36 years old at the start of his next contract if he chooses to sign one.
The perennial goal-scorer has shown no signs of slowing down yet. He was tied for the league lead in goals with 48 when the season paused on March 12. He's also shown incredible durability throughout his career, only missing a handful of games over the years due to injury.
When asked about his thoughts on what he's accomplished and what he still has to get done, Ovechkin showed he understands the significance of his work on the ice so far.
"Obviously right now I have lots of time to think about and you know it's great, it's great for (the) game, it's great for me, for my teammates, it's great for Washington area, D.C. area to be able to see that," Ovechkin said of his personal feats to date. "Right now, I can't even realize what I did throughout all my career because you know my career is not ending, but to be eighth all time (on the all-time goals list), it's special."
