When Zdeno Chara began his NHL career in 1997, he wasn’t the best skater. That changed quickly, though, and he evolved into a top defenseman in the league.

The first time Wayne Gretzky saw Chara was when he played for the New York Islanders , and was impressed by his size — Chara stands at 6-foot-9 — but not his skating.

That changed in Chara’s second year and led to Gretzky not wanting to share the ice with him.

“The first time I saw him in the warm up, I remember looking down the other end. I’m thinking, ‘Wow, this guy’s a big man. But he’s not that great of a skater,’” Greztzky said during TNT’s coverage of the Boston Bruins-Toronto Maple Leafs game on Tuesday. “So I tried to jump on the ice every time he was out there. By the second year, I was looking down there and I told

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