The Defense Rests: Zdeno Chara, P.K. Subban, Keith Yandle Announce NHL Retirements

Zdeno Chara of the Boston Bruins shakes hands with P.K. Subban of the Montreal Canadiens following … [+] the Canadiens’ second-round win in the 2014 Stanley Cup Playoffs. (Photo by Brian Babineau/NHLI via Getty Images)

NHLI via Getty Images

As teams around the National Hockey League prepare to open their training camps later this week, three defensive stalwarts announced Tuesday that they won’t be on the ice for the 2022-23 season.

Zdeno Chara, P.K. Subban and Keith Yandle have all decided to hang up their skates.

Between them, the trio has 3,616 regular-season games played and more than $250 million in career earnings, per CapFriendly. Chara and Subban both won the Norris Trophy as the NHL’s best defenseman, and Chara also captained the Boston Bruins for their run to the Stanley Cup in 2011.

To wrap up a 24-year career that also included two stints with the New York Islanders and time with the Ottawa Senators and Washington Capitals, 45-year-old Chara is signing a one-day contract with Boston on Tuesday, in order to retire as a Bruin.

Drafted by the Islanders in the third round, 56th overall, in 1996, the 6’9”, 250-pound defender cut an imposing figure on the ice — renowned for his toughness and snarl. Chara was also intensely dedicated to fitness, and was often among the NHL’s ice-time leaders.

Over the course of his long career, Chara collected 209 goals, 680 points and 2,085 penalty minutes. He finished as a Norris finalist five times, winning the trophy in the 2008-09 season.

On the international stage, he helped his native Slovakia win two silver medals at the IIHF World Championship. At the 2016 World Cup of Hockey, served as an alternate captain for Team Europe, which finished as runner-up in the tournament.

Subban, 33, is as well-known for his big personality off the ice as he is for his contributions to the blue lines of the Montreal Canadiens, Nashville Predators and New Jersey Devils.

Drafted in the second round in 2007, 43rd overall, Subban made an instant impact at the NHL level when he joined the Canadiens at the end of the 2009-10 season. He appeared in 14 playoff games as Montreal reached the Eastern Conference Final before falling to the Philadelphia Flyers.

In his official rookie campaign, he put up 14 goals, 38 points and 124 penalty minutes in 77 games and earned consideration for the Calder Trophy. Two years later, in the lockout-shortened 2012-13 campaign, he won the Norris with 38 points in 42 games.

After filing for arbitration as a restricted free agent during the summer of 2014, Subban and the Canadiens came to terms on an eight-year contract that carried a cap hit of $9 million per season. But despite continued strong play and high-profile community involvement which included a CDN $10-million pledge to Montreal Children’s Hospital in 2015, then-general manager Marc Bergevin shocked the hockey world by trading Subban to the Nashville Predators in a one-for-one deal for Shea Weber two days before Subban’s no-movement clause was set to take effect on July 1, 2016.

During his three seasons in Nashville, Subban’s best moment came during the club’s run to the Stanley Cup Final in 2017, particularly when he went toe-to-toe against Pittsburgh Penguins captain Sidney Crosby in the final-round series.

Two years later, the cap-strapped Predators moved Subban to the New Jersey Devils, where he played out what proved to be the final three years of his career.

Subban finished with 115 goals, 457 points and 905 penalty minutes in 834 games played, and was a three-time Norris finalist. Internationally, he won a pair of gold medals for Canada at the World Junior Championship, along with Olympic gold in Sochi, Russia in 2014.

Yandle, 36, hangs up his skates after setting a new NHL Ironman record last season.

Drafted in the fourth round, 105th overall, by the then-Phoenix Coyotes in 2005, the offense-first Bostonian finished with 103 goals and 619 points in 1,109 career games with the Coyotes, the New York Rangers, the Florida Panthers and the Philadelphia Flyers.

His consecutive-games-played streak began with the Coyotes on March 26, 2009. With the Flyers on January 25, 2022, he skated in his 965th-straight game — breaking the record that had been set by Doug Jarvis 35 years earlier in 1987, barely a year after Yandle was born.

PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA – JANUARY 29: Keith Yandle #3 of the Philadelphia Flyers celebrates with … [+] family after being honored for breaking the NHL’s ‘Iron Man’ record for most consecutive game streak prior to playing the Los Angeles Kings at Wells Fargo Center on January 29, 2022 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. (Photo by Tim Nwachukwu/Getty Images)

Getty Images

Renowned for his team-first mindset and strong locker-room presence, Yandle’s streak stretched to 989 games before the Flyers made him a healthy scratch on April 2, 2022.

Despite breaking a record that stood for so long, Yandle will likely be surpassed very soon. Winger Phil Kessel sits just seven games behind, at 982. The 34-year-old will suit up this season for the Vegas Golden Knights after signing a one-year, $1.5 million contract on August 24.

Yandle also skated in 58 playoff games in his career. He reached the Western Conference Final with the Coyotes in 2012 and the Stanley Cup Final with the Rangers in the 2015.