Boston Bruins retiring Zdeno Chara’s #33 tonight at TD Garden. Here’s everything you need to know

Story byBryan LambertThu, January 15, 2026 at 5:50 PM UTC·2 min readFormer Boston Bruins defenseman Zdeno Chara towered above every NHL skater he shared the ice with and Thursday night, his iconic number #33 will forever look down upon the TD Garden ice. Chara will become the 13th player in Bruins’ history to get their jersey retired. AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementIf you’re headed to Causeway Street for the game tonight, the Bruins have a whole night of celebration planned for Big Z. Beginning just after 4:00 p. m., Chara’s former teammates and Bruins alumni, including Patrice Bergeron, Ray Bourque, Andrew Ference, Dennis Seidenberg and Tim Thomas will walk the “Gold Carpet” in front of the Garden. At 5:00 p. m., the doors to the Garden will finally open and fans are welcome to take their seats. The Bruins say that fans should be in their seats by 6:10, around 10 minutes before the jersey retirement is expected to begin. The ceremony will last around an hour, finishing at roughly 7:20 before pregame warmups begin. AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementThe Seattle Kraken and the Bruins will finally drop the puck at 8:00 p. m. The Slovakian won the Stanley Cup with the Bruins in 2011, becoming the first captain to bring a championship to Boston since 1972. He later appeared in two additional Stanley Cup Final series with the Bruins in 2013 and 2019. His impressive 14 Game 7 playoff appearances are also tied with Patrice Bergeron for the most by an NHL player. Chara first signed with Boston in July 2006 and served as team captain for the entirety of his 14-year stint with the Black-and-Gold, making him the second-longest tenured captain in club history behind Ray Bourque.