zdeno chára has the fastest slapshot in the nhl.
who has the fastest slapshot in the nhl?
zdeno chára
in the off-season, souray became an unrestricted free agent and, on july 12, 2007, he signed a five-year, $27 million contract with the edmonton oilers, his favourite team growing up. however, his debut season with the oilers was not the dream he imagined, as injuries limited him to only 26 games played. already recovering from a shoulder injury when he entered training camp, souray played through it, but reinjured the shoulder just six games into the season in a fight, and missed the next 55 games. but in 2008–09, he bounced back from the injury-shortened campaign to record 23 goals and 53 points and once again become an nhl all-star. he finished third in the hardest shot competition that year, clocking in at 102.3 mph, behind shea weber (103.4) of the nashville predators, and winner zdeno chára (105.4) of the boston bruins. but during the oilers' own 2009 skills competition, on january 4, souray set the then-unofficial nhl record for the hardest shot. clocked at 106.7 mph, his slapshot beat chad kilger's old unofficial record of 106.6 mph set at the toronto maple leafs' 2006 skills competition. the record was deemed unofficial, however, as the league does not recognize individual team skills competitions and instead goes by the nhl all-star game's skills competition results. souray's unofficial shot was not surpassed until january 28, 2012, by chára, whose 108.8 mph slapshot in the skills competition preceding the 2012 all-star game beat souray's blast and set the official record. souray also earned a humorous nickname during his strong 2008–09 season, when during the third period of a 5–2 victory over the dallas stars on december 3, 2008, the stars' broadcast team referred to souray as the "studly wonderbomb" as a recognition of his slapshot's prowess.
sheldon souray
rolston signed with the minnesota wild as an unrestricted free agent on july 8, 2004, though his wild debut did not occur until the 2005–06 season due to the 2004–05 nhl lockout. rolston often quarterbacked the wild's powerplay (a task normally given to a defenseman) due to his booming shot from the point and strong two-way ability. during the season, he was an on-ice leader and was one of the wild's top scorers, scoring a new career high of 79 points. he was named as team captain for minnesota for february, october and november 2006 and january 2007. during 2006–07, rolston scored three goals (one on a penalty shot and two in overtime shootouts), using a slapshot from the slot. he was selected for the 2006–07 nhl western conference all-star team. during the game, rolston scored two goals and added two assists. rolston's shot is also known for making anaheim ducks goaltender jean-sébastien giguère duck for cover during a game in the 2007–08 season when rolston fired a slapshot from the right wing aiming for the top left corner of the net. giguère ducked to avoid being hit in the mask, resulting in a goal for rolston. in a similar event during the 2006–07 nhl season, rolston fired a slapshot on vancouver canucks goaltender roberto luongo. the shot hit luongo in the mask, and though unhurt, luongo was dazed for minutes, lying on the ice until the team's trainer confirmed he was okay to continue the game. rolston would later score on a penalty shot using his slapshot in the same game against luongo.
brian rolston