Brobdingnagian defenseman Zdeno Chara has played in the NHL since 1998. Feisty Nashville Predators forward Yakov Trenin was born in 1997. Chara stands 6 feet, 9-inches tall and weighs 250 pounds; the Russian Trenin gives up seven inches and 50 pounds to the big Slovak. Chara played 1,680 NHL games, the most of any blueliner in league history. Yakov Trenin has played 146. There’s no real reason for the plucky Trenin and the stalwart Chara to hate each other. Heck, they don’t even play in the same conference, let alone division, where interpersonal contempt in the NHL is forged with the familiarity of regular meetings. Nevertheless, it was all but guaranteed the two will square off for fisticuffs every time the puck drops between Nashville and Chara’s New York Islanders, even if it’s impossible to understand the reasons why. The first battle came Jan. 7, 2020, when Nashville hosted the then-Chara-captained Boston Bruins. It was Trenin’s ninth NHL game. And he dropped Big Z like a new mixtape. Maybe we should have seen it coming as Trenin has a college degree in — I swear — boxing. (And doofy congressional Republicans think art history is a silly major!) Anyway, Trenin and Chara met again Dec. 9, 2021, mixing it up less than seven minutes into the game. Big Z retired this summer — and at age 45, nobody can blame him for that — so this rivalry falls victim to Father Time, but it forged plenty of memories for the Smilodon-wearing faithful.
Best Predator Rivalry
